swimming after diving

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Beppe

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Messages
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Location
Italy
# of dives
500 - 999
My buddy and I dive usually on saturdays,now he's taken up swimming;we're done with diving usually at 11-11.30a.m,he's at the swimming pool at 1p.m.,I know it's not a bright idea to put your body under such an exertion, being the tissues still saturated with nitrogen.He says he's done this before and nothing happened,and I actually remember some friends of mine,among which there was an instuctor,used to dive in the morning and swim in the afternoon.I still think it might be dangerous if I still remember what I've been taught in my courses and also going thru logic; but maybe my memory fails me and my logic is screwed up.If not, some argument to back me up and scare him to death would be appreciated.Thanks.
 
Yes, and I have seen people run across all 8 lanes of the 405 freeway at rush hour with out harm coming to them, it still does not mean it is a good idea. How long and how deep the dives were and how long after the dive before they go swimming are of course all going to be factors.

DocDeco or some other experts will I hope chime in here, but they have spoken before on the topic of exercise and diving. Not a good idea. They don't even recommend you lift your tank for the first hour or two after a dive.

Keep in mind I am not an expert or other qualified individual. But I have done my chamber dives and don’t’ care to repeat the experience. So I will follow as much as shore diving in SoCal allows the experts advice to avoid exercise after and before diving. Particularly after.
 
pasley:
Yes, and I have seen people run across all 8 lanes of the 405 freeway at rush hour with out harm coming to them, it still does not mean it is a good idea. How long and how deep the dives were and how long after the dive before they go swimming are of course all going to be factors.

DocDeco or some other experts will I hope chime in here, but they have spoken before on the topic of exercise and diving. Not a good idea. They don't even recommend you lift your tank for the first hour or two after a dive.

Keep in mind I am not an expert or other qualified individual. But I have done my chamber dives and don’t’ care to repeat the experience. So I will follow as much as shore diving in SoCal allows the experts advice to avoid exercise after and before diving. Particularly after.
Thanks Melvin.As for the depth we usually dive between 30-42mt(100-140ft),but I don't think that that matters much,to me exercising after diving is just a no-no,no matter the depth,obiouvsly the deeper and the longer the worse.I still think of that instructor though.Did I mention that, by chance, he happened to be one of the trainers at the swimming pool?Money issue I reckon.That pisses me off ;not only for the health hazard but also because it mislead people in thinking that "swimming after diving is not a problem provided you wait a couple of hours".Hence my buddy.Anyway,the real "problem" for me is that being my dives essentially "rock"diving,I very often have to, letterally,climb up rocks or piers in full gear in order to exit the water;I've been doing that for years and nothing bad ever happened,apart for tripping and falling over:D.But I have no choice.Do you guys(help from the doctors here)think that I'm putting myself to much at risk in terms of DDS considering that I'm getting older(47)?
 
Beppe:
...I very often have to, letterally,climb up rocks or piers in full gear in order to exit the water;I've been doing that for years and nothing bad ever happened,apart for tripping and falling over:D.But I have no choice.Do you guys(help from the doctors here)think that I'm putting myself to much at risk in terms of DDS considering that I'm getting older(47)?

I hear you. Age 51. This was discussed here before. The good doctor said (I am paraphrasing) that the science of Decopression is fairly certain. In the lab they have clearly demonstrated that it is not if, but when.

I beach dive in Southern California. So I hear you about climbing out after the dive. I attempt to mitigate by 1. diving 60 feet or less and 2. resting in the water for a few minutes to "off gas" before attempting the climb.

Attached are photos of some dive sites I have been to beach diving. In the photo on the left, we enter and exit near the point at the center of the photo. So I hear you about climbing after a dive. Swimming after a dive is IMHO asking for it.
 
pasley:
I beach dive in Southern California. So I hear you about climbing out after the dive. I attempt to mitigate by 1. diving 60 feet or less and 2. resting in the water for a few minutes to "off gas" before attempting the climb.

Attached are photos of some dive sites I have been to beach diving. In the photo on the left, we enter and exit near the point at the center of the photo. So I hear you about climbing after a dive. Swimming after a dive is IMHO asking for it.

God,judging from the photos,your climbing is even worse than mine!!!I'm going to follow your advice in waiting a bit in the water,it's certainly not going to do me no harm;except for my friends taking the piss:)).As for the depth,I'm afraid that we don't have so many shallow sites here(actually none).I'm also going to search for all the old threads on the topic.Many thanks for your tips,much appreciated.:thumbs-up Take care
 
Beppe:
My buddy and I dive usually on saturdays,now he's taken up swimming;we're done with diving usually at 11-11.30a.m,he's at the swimming pool at 1p.m.,I know it's not a bright idea to put your body under such an exertion, being the tissues still saturated with nitrogen.He says he's done this before and nothing happened,and I actually remember some friends of mine,among which there was an instuctor,used to dive in the morning and swim in the afternoon.I still think it might be dangerous if I still remember what I've been taught in my courses and also going thru logic; but maybe my memory fails me and my logic is screwed up.If not, some argument to back me up and scare him to death would be appreciated.Thanks.

Perhaps this will help. The source is the Diving Medicine Online website:
"Exercise and Decompression Accidents
The inveterate runner or hiker on a dive trip often wants to know if there is any harm in exercising before or after diving. Of course, the problem is whether or not bubbles are induced by pre-dive exercise or by exercise immediately after a non-saturation dive.

The scientists at NASA are understandably interested in this aspect of decompression and have done studies to elucidate this problem with their extra-vehicular activity astronauts. To determine the answer to these questions, an elegant study was done by Dervay, J, MR Powell, and CE Fife, " Effective lifetimes of tissue micronuclei generated by musculoskeletal stress" in Aviat. Space and Environ. Med., 68 (Suppl), A12. (1997); Dervay, J, MR Powell BD Butler, and CE Fife. From Doppler bubble determinations in this study the following can be deduced:

All strenuous activities for about four hours prior to scuba diving will increase micronuclei, thereby increasing venous gas emboli. Musculoskeletal activity will definitely increase the number of tissue micronuclei. That is an experimental fact. These micronuclei will persist for about two to five hours – again an experimental fact. There are no studies that show clearly what happens to these bubbles when they are compressed by a dive.

It is thought that if one were to put four restful hours between exercise and diving and six between diving and exercise, a diver should be in good shape in terms of absent bubbles. That is probably sufficient for non-decompression dives."
 

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