Did Nitrox diving cure my back problems?

[airsix]

This might sound crazy, but I think diving nitrox is helping my back.

Here's the deal: I have intervertebral disc degeneration (discs shrinking with age, reducing space between my vertebrae). Too many years of jumping BMX bikes, Skis, motorcycles & snowmobiles. Doc says all that hammering on my back built up scar tissue on my discs from mini-tears that didn't cause pain, but have reduced blood flow. Now my discs are dehydrating and losing volume. As the discs compress they protrude and irritate nerves, cause spasms, and periodically put me completely immobile. Well, at least until last year...

I went for 7 years without having a pain-free day. I walked crooked, couldn't bend for more than a few seconds, and pretty much changed my whole lifestyle to accommodate the pain. Then I started diving again after a decade break. I didn't know if I'd be able to carry my gear, and do all the things a diver does, but I was going to try. Too keep this from getting too long I'll jump right to the end: I'm convinced that diving nitrox has helped my back. I got my nitrox cert last year, and after my first dives (a series of 3 dives in one day - 105ft, 70ft, 70ft) I couldn't believe how I felt in the days that followed. I felt so much better in fact that I started searching for info about this sort of thing. I've found that there are medical treatments using hyperbaric sessions combined with nitrox breathing gas (hyperbaric oxygen therapy).

I don't know if HBOT is real proven scientific medicine or just hocus-pokus. I'll let the board hash that one out. All I know is that over the past year my back has been getting better and I can draw a direct correlation to my nitrox dives. I've also been using an inversion table which has helped me as well, but I can't deny the effects of the diving - there is too much evidence for me to dismiss it. I can also say that I know the benefits aren't from the swimming because I tried swimming as therapy prior to returning to diving and it actually made things worse.

In closing I'll just comment that my whole life has turned around over the past year. I rarely experience back pain now. I am still careful not to cause injury, but I can walk, run (I can run again!), play with my kids, dive, do yard work, hike/climb, cycle... all things I avoided for the past 5-7 years because of the pain. It's just awesome.

Has nitrox diving affected anyone else in a health-possitive way? I know there are going to be replies saying I'm crazy, but I'm telling you I feel better and right now that's all I care about.

-Ben

 

[Mossman]

Has nitrox diving affected anyone else in a health-possitive way? I know there are going to be replies saying I'm crazy, but I'm telling you I feel better and right now that's all I care about.-Ben

I think you're crazy about it healing your back - it's just a coincidence, but it's good to hear you're feeling better.

On the other hand, nitrox is a great cure for a hangover (any high ppO2 will do, but you gotta go a lot deeper to get the goods on air, and I've noticed that the dive boats hate it when you sample their onboard stash of the pure stuff). I've gotten in the water plenty of times when I could barely stand up, with a pounding headache, unfocused eyes and drooling, and emerged from the dive feeling newborn.

 

[dlndavid]

If that was the case I'd be breathing the stuff right now, just tweaked my back e few hours ago.

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

Six, regardless of WHY, I'm glad you're feeling better.

David, I hope you feel better soon.

 

[Web Monkey]

I don't know if HBOT is real proven scientific medicine or just hocus-pokus. I'll let the board hash that one out. All I know is that over the past year my back has been getting better and I can draw a direct correlation to my nitrox dives. I've also been using an inversion table which has helped me as well, but I can't deny the effects of the diving - there is too much evidence for me to dismiss it. I can also say that I know the benefits aren't from the swimming because I tried swimming as therapy prior to returning to diving and it actually made things worse.

It's unlikely that the Nitrox did anything, although it's completely possible that the diving did.

Nothing makes my back feel better than an hour of relaxed weightless stretching (diving).

Terry

 

[Fish_Whisperer]

It's unlikely that the Nitrox did anything, although it's completely possible that the diving did.

Nothing makes my back feel better than an hour of relaxed weightless stretching (diving).

Terry

I've thought, for a long time, that scuba should be pitched to the elderly, even if it were only done in a swimming pool, for just this reason. (Nevermind the additional benefit of exercise)

 

[Web Monkey]

I've thought, for a long time, that scuba should be pitched to the elderly, even if it were only done in a swimming pool, for just this reason. (Nevermind the additional benefit of exercise)

That's a great idea!

I wonder why nobody does it?

Terry

 

[frankc420]

That's a great idea!

I wonder why nobody does it?

Terry

Probably liability issues. You killed my grandma! Hey, it's not my fault her dentures got lodged in her regulator!

 

[airsix]

Thanks Fish.

The reason I think there is support for my belief is hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been proven to carry oxygen deeper into tissues with low circulation than occurs breathing air at 1atm, and that's where my problem comes from - intervertebral discs get very little blood flow. They heal slowly (or don't heal completely) because they don't get much oxygen under normal conditions. I suspect that at 4 atm and a 1.6PPO2 there is more oxygen getting to these off-the-beaten-path tissues (like joints and intervertebral discs). Anyway, at this point I already have so many reasons to go diving that this is just one more heaped onto the pile.

-Ben

 

[Cacia]

Very great you are feeling better!

Do you guys know if higher concentrations of 02 in the tank translate to higher SATS?

because a normal sat on room air, .21, is about 98, I think. So..hyperbaric oxygen therapy could only potentially raise your Hg saturation a percentage, at most...or am I wrong here? That is the part I don't get...

I, too, had many years of back pain after a heli crash. What helped me the most was getting off pain pills and stretching my hamstrings out, so that my pelvis sat at a slightly different angle and no longer pinched the nerves. (I think) Activity= blood flow, etc


Ohhhh...maybe the "other" "unbound-to Hbg"- 02 in the blood has a physiologic effect...