Can You Scuba Dive With A Broken Bone?

It’s not good to break a bone at any time, but if you have some diving planned will a broken bone prevent you from going?

So can you scuba dive with a broken bone? It’s not advisable to scuba dive with a broken bone. Also, before you go diving after breaking any bone, consult with your doctor first. You may have to wait at least 4-6 months after the facture and until the break has healed satisfactorily before you are able to consider your next dive.

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How do you know if you have a broken bone?

To find out if you have a broken bone you need to visit a hospital for an X-ray. Symptoms of a broken bone include a swelling, bruising and tenderness around the injured area.

If your bone is broken it’ll be painful when putting any weight on the injury. With severe breakages the broken bone may poke through the skin.

Reasons why you can scuba dive with a broken bone

There are many reasons why you shouldn’t scuba dive with a broken bone, these reasons are better explained for each type of broken bone, as follows:

• Broken leg bone: You need your legs for finning underwater and for getting in and out of the water. This is especially true when diving on a boat, as you’ll need to get back on the boat after your dive. A broken leg will make this a challenge if you’re trying to climb up a ladder onto the boat.
• Broken arm bone: If you break any part of your arms, this will make it difficult to do many things. Although you don’t use your arms much when you’re underwater, you still need your arms when you’re scuba diving, this is especially true when getting back onto a dive boat.
• Broken hands or fingers: If you break smaller bones, like those in your fingers, these won’t limit you as much as some of your bigger bones, but this could be quite painful if you need to use your hands to grip anything.
• Broken ribs: Broken ribs are extremely painful, especially each time you breath, which of course is all the time. I would suggest broken ribs will make it painful when you put your heavy scuba tank and equipment on. But also, when you put your wetsuit or drysuit on.

Can you scuba dive with a broken leg?

You can’t scuba dive with a broken leg. A broken leg is possibly one of the worst bones to be injured if you’re going scuba diving because you need your legs to fin and for getting back into the dive boat.

After a broken leg you need to consult your doctor before getting back to diving.

Can you dive with a broken arm?

You can’t scuba dive with a broken arm. A broken arm will make it difficult to get back onto a dive boat, as you’ll need your arms to pull yourself up.

After you’ve broken your arm, consult your doctor before getting back to diving again.

Can you scuba dive with a broken wrist?

As with any broken bone, you shouldn’t dive with a broken wrist.

Also, and whilst there’s no medical evidence to prove, if you have a swelling and with a change in blood flow, this could reduce the efficient release of nitrogen and potentially increase the risk of decompression sickness.

Can you scuba dive with broken ribs?

You shouldn’t dive with broken ribs, but once the break has healed you’ll be back diving in no time. Broken bones and factures are a temporary condition and means you only need to avoid diving until it heals.

But as with all tips on the subject of broken bones, you must consult with your doctor before you go diving.

What are the risks to scuba dive with a broken bone?

There’s an increased risk of decompression sickness if you scuba dive with a broken bone. The risk is related to the swelling around the break and from the resultant changes in blood flow.

These are thought to impair the release of nitrogen stored in the injured tissues. For your own safety, wait for the break to heal.

I hope you enjoyed this article about can you scuba dive with a broken bone

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkelling or scuba diving (or specifically about can you scuba dive with a broken bone), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about scuba and scuba diving safety tips (and on snorkelling too) for you to read and learn about this fabulous sport.

Have fun and be safe!