# Acromegaly and swimming / SCUBA diving **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876 "2016-09-13T19:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876/1 "2016-09-13T19:06:08Z")
I’ve [just been reading](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/paralympic-sport/2016/09/13/paralympics-tallest-ever-competitor-my-life-has-changed-playing/) about a sportsman with acromegaly, and I’m wondering why they don’t take to swimming? Surely swimming and SCUBA diving would be hugely beneficial to them, with the water supporting their over-large skeletons? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876/2 "2016-09-13T20:00:47Z")
Former scuba instructor hypothesizing here… Acromegaly patients often have severe cardiovascular and respiratory medical issues. As such, an aspiring scuba diving student with acromegaly would need a physician’s medical clearance to engaged in dive training. I would expect that these associated medical conditions would bar most acromegaly patients from engaged in scuba diving. That does not, however, preclude snorkeling or swimming should the person be so interested. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876/3 "2016-09-13T20:35:28Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > Former scuba instructor hypothesizing here… Only on the Dope… > [@](#): > > Acromegaly patients often have severe cardiovascular and respiratory medical issues. As such, an aspiring scuba diving student with acromegaly would need a physician’s medical clearance to engaged in dive training. Would that apply if the sufferer started at an early age? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2016, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876/4 "2016-09-13T20:46:41Z")
I don’t have acromegaly, but I’ve done a bit of SCUBA diving. I found that after about 20 minutes under water, my lower back started aching. Something about the buoyancy and muscle tone put my back joints in a position that was NOT good; I ended up pretty sore at the end of every dive, especially so after the longer dives… [Astronauts have reported a similar problem.](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/176.html) IOW, even if you have an apparently healthy skeletal/muscular system, neutral buoyancy/weightlessness isn’t necessarily going to feel like a piece of heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876/5 "2016-09-14T13:31:21Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > … > Would that apply if the sufferer started at an early age? Age 10 is the youngest for scuba certification courses. At that age acromegaly would not yet be diagnosed. Acromegaly is typically diagnosed later in adulthood and is the result of growth hormone (GH) abnormalities in adults after the growth plates of the long bones have fused. [Per the](https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-topics/endocrine/acromegaly/Pages/fact-sheet.aspx) U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES > [@](#): > > Acromegaly is most often diagnosed in middle-aged adults, although symptoms can appear at any age. If not treated, acromegaly can result in serious illness and premature death. > … > When GH-producing tumors occur in childhood, the disease that results is called gigantism rather than acromegaly. A child’s height is determined by the length of the so-called long bones in the legs. In response to GH, these bones grow in length at the growth plates—areas near either end of the bone. Growth plates fuse after puberty, so the excessive GH production in adults does not result in increased height. However, prolonged exposure to excess GH before the growth plates fuse causes increased growth of the long bones and thus increased height. Youths with gigantism also have serious medical issues which would be an issue for receiving medical certification to dive. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/acromegaly-and-swimming-scuba-diving/765876/6 "2016-09-14T14:26:51Z")
So SCUBA is out; what about normal swimming? Likely in a drysuit to minimise desquamation. BTW I appear to have confused acromegaly with gigantism - I wasn’t aware that the two were distinct. For the rest of this thread, assume both or either as appropriate