Recompression Chamber
A recompression chamber is a pressure vessel used to treat divers suffering from certain diving disorders such as decompression sickness. Often the terms "recompression chamber", "decompression chamber" and "hyper baric oxygen therapy chamber" are used interchangeably. The names reflect the different purposes that the chambers are designed for, rather than their capability. Each is capable of operating in the others' role:
A decompression chamber is used in surface supplied diving to allow the divers to complete their decompression stops at the end of a dive on the surface rather than underwater. A hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber is used in a hospital or sporting context to treat patients whose condition might benefit from hyperbaric oxygen treatment, including divers.
In the Midwest, there are several hospitals that offer recompression chamber services. A complete and regularly updated list of chambers can be found on the Internet at the following location: www.uhms.org
Among the chambers that are available in the Midwest:
St. Luke's Hospital
Milwaukee, WI
(414)-649-6577
Hennepin County Hospital
Minneapolis, MN
(612)-347-3131
Marquette General Hospital
Marquette, MI
(906)-255-3560
Bronson Methodist Hospital
Kalamazoo, MI
(616)-341-7654 or (616)-341-7778
Recreational Dive Planner (RDP)
The Recreational Dive Planner (RDP), distributed by PADI, simplifies dive planning and determining you depth and time limits. It is unique because it�s the first dive table designed, tested, and validated specifically for recreational diving rather than commercial or military diving.
The RDP promotes safer diving practices, particularly by encouraging slow, controlled ascent procedures and allow divers for the first time to make allowance for atmospheric pressure changes due to weather or changes in altitude. Due to the wide variations in human physiology and the large number of factors that can affect your susceptibility to decompression illness, no table can guarantee to protect you against all risk.
Whenever diving the following advice should be taken into account:
1. The maximum recommended depth for recreational diving, when using air, is 130 feet. Specific depth restrictions, appropriate to skill level and experience, are applicable to some PADI certifications (see Depth). When carrying out two or more dives in one day, perform the deepest dive first.
2. It is recommended that no more than 3 dives be performed in any 24 hours. Any dive series involving consecutive days diving to 30m+ should be limited to three days, after which a 24-hour break should be taken.
3. Always be in control of your buoyancy, especially during the ascent, and observe the recommended ascent speeds. (15m/min to 6m and 1 min from 6m to the surface).
4. It is permissible to conduct slower descents and ascents, while remaining within the dive profile envelope, but multiple 'saw tooth' ascents and descents should be avoided.
5. Be aware that smoking, alcohol consumption, tiredness, age, increased body fat and any medical condition affecting the respiratory or circulatory systems may increase your risk of decompression illness. Susceptibility can also be increased with excessive physical exertion during or immediately after a dive.
6. When diving with Nitrox use the PADI Nitrox Table to determine the safe limits for your planned dive. See Depth and Nitrox.
7. When diving with Trimix, or other mixed gases, the dive should be planned using an established US Navy Decompression Tables. See Depth and Mixed Gas
The Recreational Dive Planner is designed specifically for planning recreational (no-decompression) dives on air only. Do not attempt to use it for planning decompression dives.
Safety Stops
A safety stop for 3 minutes at 15 ft is required time the diver comes within 3 pressure groups of a no-decompression limit, and for any dive to a depth of 100 ft or greater.
Emergency Decompression
If a no-decompression limit is exceeded by no more than 5 minutes, an 8-minute decompression stop at 15 feet is mandatory. Upon surfacing, the diver must remain out of the water for at least 6 hours prior to making another dive.
If a no-decompression limit is exceeded by more than 5 minutes, a 15-foot decompression stop of no less than 15 minutes is urged (air supply permitting). Upon surfacing, the diver must remain out of the water for at least 24 hours prior to making another dive.
Flying after Diving recommendations
1. Wait a minimum surface interval of 12 hours prior to ascent to altitude.
2. If you plan on making daily, multiple dives for several days or make that require decompression stops, take a special precaution and extend the surface interval to 18 hours before flight.
Diving at Altitude
Diving at altitude (1000 feet or greater) requires uses of special procedures and tables.
Special rules for Multiple Dives
If you are planning 3 or more dives in a day:
Beginning with the first dive, if your ending pressure group after any dive is W or X, the minimum surface interval between all subsequent dives is 1 hour. If your ending pressure group after any dive is Y or Z, the minimum surface interval between all subsequent dives is 3 hours.
Note: Since little is presently known about the physiological effects of multiple dives over multiple days, divers are wise to make fewer dives and limit their exposure toward the end of a multi-day dive series.
General rules
Ascend from all dives at a rate not to exceed 60 feet per minute.
When planning a dive in cold water or under conditions that might be strenuous, plan the dive assuming the depth is 10 feet deeper than actual.
Plan repetitive dives so each successive dive is to a shallower depth. Limit repetitive dives to 100 feet or shallower.
Never exceed the limits of the planner and whenever possible avoid diving the limits of the planner. 140 feet is for emergency purposes only do not dive to this depth.
Re-Entry Decompression
If a diver misses planned decompression stops, no attempt should be made to enter the water again in order to complete them. In this situation the diver is increasing the risk of decompression illness.
Regulators
Hoofer SCUBA strongly recommends that all divers have a regulator that has an alternative air source (AAS). A suitable AAS includes an octopus or a second 2nd stage fitted to the same 1st stage of the regulator. In this case divers should be aware that a first stage failure on their regulator would affect both second stages and render them inoperative.
Repeat Dives
The PADI Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) should be used for planning and performing repeat dives. Where two or more dives are being made the same day, it is good practice to carry out the deepest dive first. You should also take care if you are involved in several days of diving deeper than 30m. It is possible to accumulate excess nitrogen over this period, and apparently 'innocent' dives, carried out near the end of the period of diving, can cause decompression illness. It is therefore recommended that any dive series involving consecutive days diving to 30m+ is limited to three days, after which a 24-hour break should be taken.
Also see PADI Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) above.
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