For centuries, man has made many attempts at venturing beneath the waves of lakes, rivers and oceans. The opening of this world beneath the waves did, however come with new dangers and consequences. With even the technology man has accumulated to date, we are still only beginning to scratch the surface of the physiological effects of scuba diving on the human body.
Many people say that scuba diving is a high-risk sport.
It is, somewhat. Simply following the guidelines set forth by the different recreational diving education organizations will greatly reduce the risk of an accident underwater, but there are no guarantees. One of the best ways of not being the victim of most dive injuries is to know what they are and how to prevent them, thus, the purpose of this paper. With the ever growing popularity of the sport, it is imperative that divers be educated as to the short and long term risks of the sport in which they are partaking in, or about to partake in. At present, there are about three million certified sport divers in the US, and another million in Europe.