A good dive medical includes several components that a medical professional should inspect. General examinations include visual acuity, cardiovascular fitness, visual acuity, barotrauma, and gastrointestinal function. Doctors may also recommend additional tests, such as x-rays, to further assess your diving abilities. If you have ever had ear infections, it's important that you speak with your dive doctor. A dive physical can provide you with the necessary information, even if your ear infection history is not present.
Checking out cardiovascular fitness
It is crucial to assess your cardiovascular condition before you consider diving as a hobby or career. This may sound like a simple task, but it is not. You shouldn't sign-up for a diving course if your ability to walk is not sufficient. You should be exercising for 20 minutes at least four to five days a week. You might need to walk for as little as a quarter of a mile.
Examining gastrointestinal function
Examining gastrointestinal function during a scuba dive physical is extremely important because ischemic colitis can occur during a diving expedition. While divers might experience abdominal discomfort and belching, little information is available about the severity of gastrointestinal complications. Some rare gastrointestinal conditions have been reported, including gastric rupture due to intra-gastric air expansion and massive pneumoperitoneum, which results from lung barotrauma. But, hemorhagic, acute ischemic, and mesenteric thrombosis were never linked to scubadiving.
Examining visual acuity
Diver physicals are used to verify that divers can perform the skills required and to evaluate a diver's eyesight. To determine if a diver has good vision, the diving professional will ask him or her to complete a visual acuity questionnaire. Although the goal of the test is to evaluate a diver's near and distant vision, it also measures the person's visual acuity.
Examining for barotrauma
Scuba diving requires you to be extra cautious in order to prevent barotrauma. The word barotrauma is derived from the Greek words baros, meaning pressure, and trauma, which means injury. When the pressure changes during diving, it can cause damage or even complete rupture to certain parts of the ear. You can get this condition if you are suffering from a cold, congestion, or while diving. This can cause symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.
Asthma screening
You should see your physician if you suspect that you have asthma before you dive. You can experience asthma symptoms that can get worse or worse, and even trigger by diving. Oral steroids can be prescribed by your doctor to treat your asthma. To protect yourself, keep some inhalers aboard your dive boat. Your doctor can also conduct an exercise test to assess asthma symptoms and do a lung function check to determine severity.