Scuba diving: taking the wheelchair out of wheelchair sports.

In the past, physicians prohibited patients with neuromuscular disease or disability from participating in scuba diving. This report highlights the opportunities that self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba) affords to physically handicapped individuals, to move without assistive devices in a gravity-free environment. The experience of a person with T10 paraplegia is used to illustrate the applicability of a new system of evaluation, training, and certification for scuba diving to patients with a wide variety of disabilities, such as paraplegia, quadriplegia, amputation, cerebral palsy, and poliomyelitis. This review also discusses equipment needs, potential risks, and safety precautions. Physicians are encouraged to support those handicapped individuals who choose to explore the submerged two thirds of our planet for its recreational as well as its potential vocational opportunities.