From: njs@scifi.uucp (Nicholas J. Simicich)
Subject: Re: Bad Back
Organization: Nick Simicich, Peekskill, NY
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 15:34:45 GMT

In article <20149@mindlink.bc.ca> Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca (Bruce Dunn) writes:
>        Aside from the problem of getting into the water, those diving in
>cold water have a potential problem in that buoyancy is distributed over much
>of the body (wet or dry suit) but weight is concentrated at the waist.  To
>prevent backaches due to the "bending" this induces, consider carrying a
>portion of your weights as ankle weights or in your BC pockets (where they
>can be directly lifted by the BC at depth).  Be sure to maintain enough
>weight on your releasable belt for safety (do our resident instructors have
>any comments on exactly how much of a suited diver's weights must be readily
>releasable?)

It is probably a bad idea to put more than a couple of pounds of
weight in the BC pocket.  It just isn't designed for it.  The velcro
is not up to the task of holding back more than a couple of lbs in
weight, and so forth.

There are various systems that allow you to put weight on your tanks,
and drop it.  You can make them yourselves or buy them commercially.

I have a canonical bad back.  I've had surgery (unsuccessful) a number
of years ago, and have almost continual sciatica.  

My diving has been successful.  I've taken up a number of physical
activities, and none have been as successful as diving.  I find that I
have to stand very carefully when in full equipment.  Bending over is
verboten.  However, it is bending at an angle that has thrown my back
seriously out in the past, and twisting and so forth.  Lifting doubles
requires me to carefully plant and so forth.  

I have had post-dive backaches from my weight belt, and it is not easy
to handle, especially in cold water where things are a lot heavier.
I've invested in a DUI weight system, which should distribute the
weight to the shoulders and hips, but I've yet to dive it.  As some
folks have pointed out, wearing a weight belt can put the weights on the
hips, which, if worn in that manner, is actually below the back.  I'm
going to see how the DUI weight system works.  In any case, this
should actually allow me to wear my weights lower on my hips without
fear of the belt falling off when I'm vertical, but while standing,
some of the weight will be on the shoulders.

If I'm feeling bad, I've been known to kick with one fin, put my gear
on (and take it off) in the water, and, blow off dives that require a
lot of walking and carrying.  I'm not comfortable with a lot of
climbing, so I don't do it.

In my case, there is nothing that I can't ignore in terms of pain, it
is just uncomfortable, so I have the ability to function in case of
emergency, and have done so in practice.  I'd say that this is an
important consideration.  Unless you are diving with a guide who is
responsible for you at all times (and this is not an unreasonable
decision to make) you must be able to power through (or compensate
for) whatever physical problems you have if you have to do a tow or a
rescue.  If you dive in a buddy situation, you should be comfortable
with that.

As far as your quesion on 'how much weight should be easily dropped'
the answer is, "All of it."  Actually, there are two answers:  It only
takes a few lbs of positive buoyancy to get to the surface.  In the use
of the DUI weight system, you have to take two separate actions to
ditch all of your weights, and there is some thought that if you hit
the point where you were ditching weights, that you'd ditch one bag,
hit the surface, and then ditch the other.

However, one of the major reasons to drop weight, and probably more
important than being able to make a trip to the surface, is being able
to drop weight at the surface.  A distressed diver may have to be
rescued.  In that case, it is sort of important that the rescuer be
able to determine how to drop the weights.  Brightly colored ripcord
systems, standard weight belts, and so forth are good.  Dark colored
velcro flaps are not what you want.  Weight distributed in multiple,
non-obvious places are not what you want.

To quote Butch Hendricks, loosely, today's diver wants their whole
head and part of their shoulders out of the water to be comfortable.
They want to be buoyant enough that they rise with waves rather than
having them wash over them.  

If you are doing a rescue, you want to get them out of the water far
enough to calm them down.  And the only way to do this is to ditch
weight.  Most of today's BCs, (with the exception of some few, such as
the Scubapro) can't do this unless you also drop all of the weight.
By stashing weight around the body, you make this impossible.

I wouldn't stash more weight than would be in ankle weights, a few lbs
at most.


-- 
Nick Simicich - uunet!bywater!scifi!njs - njs@watson.ibm.com
SSI #AOWI 3958, HSA 318, NAUI #14065
Join the movement ---  turn 'to bush' into a verb.
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