springboard diving safety questions

Question
1. Springboard diving exposes diver to repeated high water pressure. Going in and out of high water pressure, how does it adversely affect diver's eyes? Will it affect diver's eye tissues?

2. Springboard diving exposes diver to repeated head/brain impact upon entry into water. How does this adversely affect diver's head/brain?

I am thinking to start diving for my 6-year old daughter. But I heard about the above 2 safety concerns for diving. Appreciate your advice!

Answer
Hi Dee -

I have never heard about these safety concerns before and wonder where you heard about them. There are safety concerns in diving for sure, just not these ones. Diving is a misunderstood sport and there are misconceptions about its safety level. Here some answers to your concerns:

1. There is high water pressure in diving. The deeper the diver goes underwater, the more pressure is exerted on the body, especially the head. However, as coaches, we have never been trained about eye concerns from water pressure. The pressure affects the inner ear canal. When a SCUBA diver descends, they close their mouth and nose with one hand and then slowly breathe out so the pressure equalizes in the form of an ear pop. Just like when you fly in a jet, your ears will pop when you yawn.Springboard divers do not have to do this very often. Some kids are more susceptible to ear infections so this should be more of a concern than the eyes. There is no pressure on the eyes when deep, especially for a 6 year old who will not go very deep anyway. When the human body contacts the water feet or head first, our eyes shut automatically. Kind of like when you sneeze, you cannot keep your eyes open. So no worries about the eyes, just the ears.

2. Head injuries occur in diving, just not from repeated entry into the water. They occur when the diver is too close to the board and touches it with a part of their head. I have never heard of a brain injury from springboard diving. They can occur in platform diving because cement does not bend, the springboard does. The reason there are no head/brain trauma from entering the water over and over is because when the diver goes head first, they close their arms over the head, squeeze the head with the biceps muscles and grab their hands in such a way that the palm opens a hole for the body to go through. The head can hit the water if the diver does not "line-up" correctly but it only results in a short headache.The concern is more of having a painful neck after practice when diving from a very high board but not traumatic head or brain injuries.Your daughter is going to spend a lot of time on the low board ( 3 feet) when learning. She may go off a high board (10 feet) but will most likely just go feet first.

Go to www.usadiving.org. Click on Store and then Educational Materials. Then click on books and look through until you find "A Safety Position". There is also a handbook for parents explaining diving.

www.diving.about.com. Site that explains the sport.Lots of good info here for beginning divers/parents.

Hope all this helps.