'Diving carelessly into pools can cause severe head injuries'

New Delhi: As peak summer arrives, enjoying a dive in the pool is a good idea. However, one must be mindful of safety measures.

Diving into the shallow end headfirst may cause severe injuries, if one's head hits the pool's floor and these injuries may be life-crippling, or even fatal, warn doctors.

According to experts, diving head-first in shallow water can cause enough impact to break the neck and cause paralysis. Not that diving foot-folded is a good idea because sometimes the depth of the water is so low that the feet or a body part can end up hitting the pool floor, especially for adults. This too can cause fracture.

Therefore, it is important to know the water level as well as the dos and don'ts around the pool area or water bodies and follow them.

A doctor, who wished to remain anonymous, told Millennium Post, "In a tragic incident, pool fun turned disastrous for the 17-year-old Swapnil Gupta, who suffered a serious neck injury after a dive into the shallow end of the pool head-down. The injury was so crippling that downwards the neck, all the four limbs were paralysed, with no mobility and loss of control over urine and stool.

"The boy immediately became immobile and was rushed to a Kota Hospital where he was stabilised. Later, he was shifted to Indian Spinal Injuries Centre (ISIC) for advanced treatment," the doctor added.

"In another case, a 15-year-old Kolkata boy named Mohd Adil sustained neck fractures on March 13 in a similar incident, which paralysed his four limbs. Like Swapnil, he too had lost control over urine and stool. While the fractures to C5, C6 vertebrae was stabilised elsewhere with surgery, screw and rod insertion in the neck, we received him for rehabilitation and further management," the doctor said, talking about another case.

Dr HS Chhabra, Director, Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, said, "It is very important that professionals play a key role in not only educating the people and spreading awareness about safety measures but also ensuring that these guidelines are implemented and are being followed.

"Professionals need to follow rules themselves at all times because it is a bad precedent not to do so. The healthcare providers should be taking a lead in reaching out to people with various awareness programmes," he concluded.

"We constantly encounter severe injury cases from various situations in life, and most have two things in common: carelessness and non-adherence to rules and safety guidelines. This is evident from the fact that Adil was a professional swimmer," said Dr Chhabra.