Nerve damage in arm

[Tony Hutchings]

Does anyone have any information about if and how diving can effect past nerve damage? I will explain; A few years ago while returning home from a dive trip I fell asleep on a long haul flight proping my head up by leaning on my elbow. When I arrived back in the UK my arm was ok but the next day I had lost feeling in two fingers and I had a general numbness in it below the elbow. I contacted the diving disease research centre and they said I may well have DCS so I went there and they put me in the cahmber a total of 7 times over the following week. It had no effect at all.

After a couple more weeks my arm slowly returned to normal and the doctors contributed it to nerve damage sustained on the plane by leaning on my elbow. Since then I have been on various dive trips with no problems at all.

In the last few months I have been diving twice and both times I have had the same symptoms the next day. I have consulted the doctors and the chamber where I live and they are all of the opinion that it is a reacurance of the same nerve damage that could have been brought on by anything from a tight fitting wetsuit to simply sleeping in a strange position the night after. They are also convinced that it is doing no further harm and I am not 'bent'.

Does anyone else have any experience of this or know anyone that has? I used to be an instructor although I no longer teach etc diving is still a large part of my life and it is an unpleasant feeling to have a numb arm whenever I go diving!

 

[Bob3]

Does anyone else have any experience of this or know anyone that has?

Welcome to the club. I've got an annoying case of spinal arthritis who's symptoms include many of the same as DCI. (numbness, tingling, heaviness, etc.
It's one of the reasons I no longer dive commercially (full time) & also the main reason that I stick well within the NDLs.
You may well see a full recovery though it may take a couple of years.

 

[DennisW]

I have a pinched nerve in my neck that causes these same symptoms in my left arm. This problem has only started causing real symptoms in the pas 7 months or so. So far, I have been able to dive without any real problems, except I usually have some pain in my left arm towards the middle of my second dive. It really is an aggravation more than anything. Good luck.

 

[TSandM]

Yeah, cervical disc disease, aggravated each time you hang heavy gear off your shoulders and assume the position you use in diving, would be high on my list of possibilities.

 

[cudachaser]

I have cervical degeneration. It affects my lower legs with numbness. Neurosurgeon advised against diving and warned me not to injure my neck...I still teach...for how long I don't know, but I will not discontinue diving. Going deeper, I do try to be conservative with my bottom times and use nitrox when ever possible