Kids and depth limitation

[Walt1957]

My daughter, age 11, was just certified. Her cert is limited to 30' max until age 15. My question is if anyone knows the reason. Is it developmental, or a precaution against a mistake or panic?

 

[Thalassamania]

I think it's twofold. The first is a consideration bone growth plate injuries and how a bends case might effect that as well as psychological readiness. This had been up on the board a few times in the past: link. Second is agency liability, real or not, having a 30 foot limit looks good if you ever have to go to court.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Here are a few threads to get you started:

Children & Deep Diving
Children Diving
Diving at Age 10?
Diving Youngsters on Nitrox
Physiological Risk Factors for Pre-Teen Divers
Young Divers
Uh-Oh LOL

 

[spacemanspiff1974]

I guess things change over the years. At age 13 I hit 85' on my third open water dive. Granted, I was the only kid in the group of people doing their open water checkout. Also, I had already hit puberty. I'm not sure how this would apply to an eleven year old girl. Another possibility is the extent of diving at greater depths at such a young age. Perhaps a few deep dives per year wouldn't cause damage while doing this sort of activity all the time might.

I think the problem is that we don't know what the long term consequences are. Because of the potential vulnerability of the test subjects, we are typically unwilling to find out. The same theory applies to pregnancy.

Actually, it would be interesting to do a study of adults who did deep dives as kids to look at any potential consequences later in life. I'm fine by the way.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I'm fine by the way.

...sure....

 

[Thalassamania]

Look, the theory and reality are often quite different, especially with liability questions in the middle. The "reality" is that most of the children of most of the diving experts and celebrities that I know dive, and have dove since a very young age, and have been well below 30 feet many, many, times. I started diving at 6 and have continued ever since, and I never stayed above 30'. I did not do decompression diving, I typically dove between 60 and 150 using U.S. Navy no-D limits. Which, if you think about it a 5 minute dive to 150 had much less deco risk than a 60 at 60. I rarely did repetitive dives as a kid, only had one tank and air fills were not to be had on every corner.

So the theory tells you what to do and the anecdotal data supports a more lenient approach. I really don't know what to tell you.

 

[knotical]

My daughter, age 11, was just certified. Her cert is limited to 30' max until age 15.

It apparently varies with agency. PADI limits 11-year-olds to 40 feet, and the restriction is lifted at age 12.

 

[DennisW]

I limited my kids depths to 40 ft. I don't care what the studies say, since there are very few studies and there aren't enough of a population to provide a statistically significant result. Besides, you would need to have a control and treatment group to make it a true experiment. My kids aren't guinea pigs. I refused to take risks with their bone development. Today, they are adults and can dive a deep as they please. As soon as they can afford to dive.

 

[Thalassamania]

It apparently varies with agency. PADI limits 11-year-olds to 40 feet, and the restriction is lifted at age 12.

That's assinine, what happens in one year? I know that the bones don't fuse till eighteen or older.

 

[DocVikingo]

Hi Walt1957,

Here is general coverage of the issues:

The Minds and Bodies of Children:Are They Really Suited to Scuba?
http://www.awoosh.com/Doc Vikingo's Resource Page/Children & Diving.htm

Regards,

DocVikingo