diving with hardware in knee

[derm diver gal]

I have a cousin interested in learning to dive, but he heard somewhere that since he has pins / hardware in his knee, he should not dive. I read the previous thread from late June re: diving after knee operations, but none of the threads alluded to surgeries where hardware / pins are in place. Any thoughts from the diving MD's?

Suzy

 

[lead_bucket]

Well ... I have a ton of metal in me... Two hip replacements.
I have no problems so far.
The big issue will be weight bearing capacity. Our surgeons will tell us to limit weight .. so adding the 70 odd pounds of tank and belt will not be 'good' for any prosthesis.

Proabably the best people to refer to is DAN.

But then .. scuba is a lot better for it than bungee jumping ... (thing what happens with weak hip tendons.....
:07: )

Lead Bucket

 

[bubblemaker20]

I have about 40 screws in my left arm and i had 3 plates but now only have 2 and i once herd something about bubbles accumulated in the gap of the bone (my upper arm has not healed properly) But nobody could ever confirm it for me so i kept diving and have yet to have a problem. I would also really like to know if anyone out there knows if there is a danger to dive with plates.

 

[pdoege]

Some titanium in my knee, eye, and shoulder. No problems.

Peter

 

[AevnsGrandpa]

in February and had dove with no problems.

Actually the surgery made my knee more stable so I can carry the extra weight to the water!

Jeff

 

[chickdiver]

I am 3 years post op on an ACL reconstruction (2 ss pins in the leg) and no problems. I also have an ankle with hardware in it that is problem free. With the knee, the biggest thing you need to be worried about is stability- especially on a boat. Physical therapy and then regular weight training will greatly help the stability issue by strengthening the surrounding muscles.

 

[derm diver gal]

This is very encouraging! I'll pass all your replies on to my cousin and hopefully be joining him sometime in some open water dives. I think it was that "microbubbles" in the joint space urban diver myth that kept him from going diving.

 

[Spectre]

Likewise. I got a pin and a screw a year ago. Was in the water about 5 weeks post-op.

Don't worry about the DCS risk in that scar tissue... From what I understand, it doesn't -increase- your susceptibility to DCS, it may influence where the DCS presents itself, but you still gotta -get bent- to get it in your surgical location.

If your cousin is 100% recovered... no worries. If they are still healing, just be careful you don't hamper the healing process.