Underdoc
Registered
Hi Bill.
I was interested in your question about warming up before diving. My background is sports medicine as well as being a master scuba diver with 35 years of experience, so I thought I'd give this a shot. Warming up is generally thought to make the soft tissues in the body more pliable. The theory is that it prevents injuries. While that would seem to make sense intuitively, there is actually no "scientific" proof that this is so. The reason that no proof exists is that no credible scientist would expose people intentionally to injury to prove the point. A couple of years ago, a study was done at UNLV which found that athletic performance was actually negatively affected by warm-ups. Wierd huh?
What may be more inportant for divers than warming up is making certain that we are in good overall condition before diving. A general fitness program will probably go farther in preventing injuries, or more importantly heart attacks in divers.
Having said that, I personally believe that it may be a good idea to at least stretch the muscles of the low back, hamstrings and shoulders before lifting and manhandling heavy diving gear. If nothing else, it will remind you to be careful during the entire dive experience. I would invite other diving medical professionals to comment.
Dr. Mark Poray
I was interested in your question about warming up before diving. My background is sports medicine as well as being a master scuba diver with 35 years of experience, so I thought I'd give this a shot. Warming up is generally thought to make the soft tissues in the body more pliable. The theory is that it prevents injuries. While that would seem to make sense intuitively, there is actually no "scientific" proof that this is so. The reason that no proof exists is that no credible scientist would expose people intentionally to injury to prove the point. A couple of years ago, a study was done at UNLV which found that athletic performance was actually negatively affected by warm-ups. Wierd huh?
What may be more inportant for divers than warming up is making certain that we are in good overall condition before diving. A general fitness program will probably go farther in preventing injuries, or more importantly heart attacks in divers.
Having said that, I personally believe that it may be a good idea to at least stretch the muscles of the low back, hamstrings and shoulders before lifting and manhandling heavy diving gear. If nothing else, it will remind you to be careful during the entire dive experience. I would invite other diving medical professionals to comment.
Dr. Mark Poray