Time to Dive after surgery

S. Marc

Hi all,

Anyone know how long you should not dive after a wrist fusion? Had an op last week (scope that revealed complete disruption of scapholunate ligament, massive membrane tear, and damage and tear to the TFCC, together with a broken scaphoid) and looks like wrist fusion is going to be the next and only viable surgical option, although they may try ligament reconstruction 1st (only given 30 % chance of success).

Spoke to DAN and they stated take 2 X the normal recovery period for a fusion, and to avoid decompression and non-conservative dive profiles for a "while".

DAN defined "normal recovery period" as basically "once there is no pain or swelling, and there is full range of motion". I don't think full range of motion will necessarily be one of the outcomes of this surgery though, given that it involves a rather long metal bar and multiple screws

Any docs on this site have any recommendations or suggestions?

Would like to take the KISS course with my wife this fall if possible but only if there is minimal risk of DCS, necrosis, and the other nasties.

Do not appear to be any doctors in town that specialize in hyperbaric or diving medicine.

Any info that can be provided is appreciated.

Thanks,

Marc

marekm

Hello,

My sister recently underwent similar surgery on her wrist. To overcome the problem of localised DCS in the area affected by the surgery, I suggested she could still dive to 12m using a rebreather with PO2 set to 1.4bar as the PN2 would still be 0.8bar, which is equivalent to the air being breathed on the surface. Although this may seem like a serious limitation to your diving, its still better than not diving at all (especially on the shallow colourful reefs in the area I live in).

-Marek

onetime

My wife just had a core decompression of the hip for osteonecrosis (basically a hole is drilled through unhealthy bone and the core removed allowing new healthy bone to grow back). Since bone takes around 4 months to regrow we're going to give it 6 months and the docs say she could dive sooner. While I'm not a doctor, I'd think that removal of a big chunk of bone takes longer to heal than your surgery so the Fall would appear to be possible if surgery is scheduled shortly.

Simon Mitchell

Hello,

You should wait until the wrist is sufficiently recovered from a functional point of view that you consider you will be able to cope normally with the physical demands of diving.

Concerns about altered perfusion in the tissues surrounding the fracture and implants being a risk factor for DCS are entirely theoretical and have never been substantiated in a practical sense. I would not let it concern me personally. Perhaps the most relevant issue in this regard is that you can expect some pain in the area after diving just because of the physical stresses. I would advise going for a very shallow conservative dive where DCS is impossible, just to put the wrist through its paces and get a sense of the discomfort you can expect under normal circumstances after a dive. This will reduce the risk of confusion and anxiety if you get pain after a more provocative dive.

Warm regards,

Simon M

pete611

was a little pain for a day of good diving.....

S. Marc

Crap, it is going to be a fusion, likely in July or August (insert self pity whine here )

Oh well, one summer off diving and a few months to finish building my BMR 500. The glass is half full.

Thanks for the advice all.

Marc

AMW

Most surgeons will be conservative in giving a time scale on getting back to diving. I had a hip resurfacing operation (BHR) September 2005. This is a high tech hip joint operation rather than remove the joint and replace it with a prosthesis they remove the surface bone and re-coat the joint the up side is if it goes well you have a joint that will last a long time 20 years plus. It will be longer than 20 years but the operation is new (ish) (developed in Birmingham) so information is still being gathered.

Any way enough rambling, I was able to cycle after five weeks cave after eight weeks and dive after 12 weeks.


Andrew.

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