Case report: Reassessing guidelines for safe resumption of diving after spinal decompression sickness: insights from a challenging case.

Background: Recreational divers who have experienced Spinal Decompression Sickness (DCS) often aspire to return to their diving activities. Traditionally, it is recommended to observe a waiting period of several months before contemplating a return to unrestricted diving, particularly when clinical symptoms are absent, spinal cord Magnetic Resonance Imaging shows no anomalies, and the evaluation for Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) returns negative results.

Methods: This article presents a compelling case study involving a 51-year-old recreational scuba diver who encountered two episodes of spinal decompression illness within a two-year timeframe.

Symptomatic or asymptomatic SAR-CoV-2 positive divers should be medically evaluated before returning to scuba diving.

In order to allow the resumption of diving activities after a COVID-19 infection, French military divers are required to undergo a medical fitness to dive (FTD) assessment. We present here the results of this medical evaluation performed 1 month after the infection. We retrospectively analyzed between April 2020 and February 2021 200 records of divers suspected of COVID-19 contamination.