Scuba diving shows improvements to paralysis, PTSD symptoms - Off Duty, Military Health and Fitness - Air Force Times

Scuba diving shows improvements to paralysis, PTSD symptoms

War-wounded troops inspired by the uplifting story of a near-dead dolphin rescued and given a new lease on life with a prosthetic fin — now showing on the big screen as “Dolphin Tale” — may find more practical comfort by jumping into the water themselves.

Researchers were recently delighted to find that paralyzed veterans who were taken scuba diving for four days in the Cayman Islands experienced remarkable boosts in both mind and body.

Not only were eight out of the 10 paraplegics able to earn their scuba certification, those who dived experienced significant improvements — 10 to 30 percent — in muscle control and sensitivity while seeing dips in levels of depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

By contrast, a control group of healthy divers experienced no improvement of any kind.

“We saw dramatic changes in a matter of days in a number of people with spinal cord injury who went scuba diving,” said study co-author Dr. Daniel Becker, head of pediatric restoration therapy at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury at Kennedy Krieger Institute and an assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

“This is just a pilot study, but to see such a restoration of neurological function and significant improvement in PTSD symptoms over such a short period of time was unprecedented.”

Or, as one of the characters in “Dolphin Tale” puts it, “Just because you’re hurt doesn’t mean you’re broken.”