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| Medical Q&A | ||
When booking any course you will be asked to fill out a PADI medical questionnaire, which will clarify whether you need a doctor's letter to be able to scuba dive. For conditions considered more serious you will be required to see a registered HSE diving doctor. Please contact us for further details.
To download the PADI Medical Statement please click here. Any 'yes' answers on this form will require a doctor's written approval in order to continue with scuba diving. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open this file. The form comprises 6 pages, the last 4 pages are given to your GP if you need to seek advice.
Because scuba diving is a relatively physically demanding sport, there are a few medical conditions that may prevent participation. The following are a few of the most common questions asked about various conditions and how they may affect scuba diving. |
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| Q) How fit do I have to be? | ||
| A) You do not necessarily have to be an Olympic athlete, but you do need to be physically fit, otherwise you will find certain diving conditions challenging and difficult. As part of the Open Water Diver course you will complete a 200 metre continuous swim to assess your overall fitness. | ||
| Q) I am a little bit overweight. Can I still dive? | ||
| A) Depending on how overweight you are and how your fitness is affected, depends on whether you can dive. If your doctor has diagnosed you as severely obese, then you will probably not be able to scuba dive safely. If in doubt, always speak to your doctor and if necessary ask us for a medical statement for your doctor to sign. We also have to consider the sizes of wetsuits that we carry in the school, so it is always advisable to come along and speak to us and make certain we have equipment to fit you. | ||
| Q) My eyesight is not very good and I have to wear spectacles in normal day-to-day life. How will this affect seeing underwater? | ||
| A) If you are slightly shortsighted, you will probably be able to see without correction as there is a small degree of magnification underwater. If you are very shortsighted (-2 diopter or worse) and wear glasses or hard contact lenses, you can get a mask with prescription lenses fitted. The cost of this is approximately £50-90 (inclusive of mask & lenses) dependant on the make of mask. Soft contact lens wearers can carry on as usual, but keep your eyes closed during mask skills underwater. If you are longsighted or wear bifocals, again we can provide a mask with corrective lenses, though the cost is more (£100-140). It is important to be able to see where you are going underwater and be able to see your instrumentation. If you are seriously taking up learning to dive, then a prescription lens mask is a vital piece of equipment that you will need to purchase in good time, before commencing course work. Full advice can be sought by contacting us at the shop. | ||
| Q) Is there an age limit on diving? | ||
| A) The minimum age for learning to dive is 10 years old, though we believe that this is too young for diving in the UK due to the more strenuous conditions - we accept students from age 12. There is no upper age limit, but the more mature people may need to be more conservative during dives after qualification. Good overall physical fitness is essential. | ||
| Q) I am asthmatic. Can I still learn to dive? | ||
| A) There are two types of asthma - stress induced and allergy induced. If you have stress induced asthma then the likely probability will be that you cannot dive, as an attack could happen whilst diving. With allergy induced, it depends on the severity and whether you know what causes an attack. The air that you breathe whilst diving is filtered and dried, and from past experience, often makes people with allergy induced asthma feel better than normal. However, it is always compulsory to seek a doctors advice, and in both cases we would require written approval from a diving doctor giving the go-ahead. | ||
| Q) What are the major medical conditions that prohibit diving? | ||
| A) There is no set answer to this as certain conditions vary in their symptoms and harshness. The major conditions that usually prevent diving include: heart conditions, stress-induced asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, lung diseases, severe obesity, serious surgery carried out recently, epilepsy, severe recurrent sinusitis & perforated eardrum. If in doubt always telephone us for advice or ask your GP. | ||
| Q) I am disabled. Can I still dive? | ||
| A) This very much depends on how your disability affects you. Diving is not discriminative, and physically handicapped people learn to dive all the time. There are disabled diving clubs that we can give you advice on, or wherever possible we will do our best to teach you as normal. In all cases it is vital that you discuss your needs with us. | ||
For more advice check out www.e-med.co.uk |
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