How to Use decompression sickness in a Sentence

decompression sickness

noun
  • To avoid decompression sickness, the crew had their nitrogen removed from their blood in a process pre-takeoff.
    — Adam Carlson, Peoplemag, 12 Sep. 2024
  • This is commonly called decompression sickness, or the bends.
    — WIRED, 25 Nov. 2022
  • In some cases, the crew may pressurize the suit to help deter cases of decompression sickness.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 16 Oct. 2019
  • This in turn keeps them away from entering joints and blocking blood supply to organs, which can cause lethal decompression sickness, aka the bends.
    — Matthew Berger, Smithsonian, 26 May 2018
  • The chambers are also used to treat decompression sickness, which can be caused by swift changes in water pressure when scuba diving.
    — Laura Daniella Sepulveda, AZCentral.com, 11 July 2025
  • Hundreds have been stricken with the bends, the decompression sickness caused when nitrogen bubbles form in divers’ bodies.
    — Washington Post, 5 July 2019
  • For example, scuba divers who do not wait at least 24 hours before flying can come down with the bends, or decompression sickness.
    — Andrea Sachs, Anchorage Daily News, 14 May 2023
  • And one that won’t release air could send you zooming to the surface and possibly to the hospital to be treated for decompression sickness.
    — Steve Waters, Miami Herald, 5 July 2025
  • Using less nitrogen will mean your tissues absorb less, giving you a lower chance of decompression sickness.
    — WIRED, 25 Nov. 2022
  • Beyond the risks of decompression sickness, living under the sea alters the partial pressure of oxygen in the human body.
    — Tree Meinch, Discover Magazine, 25 May 2023
  • Because of the depth, technical divers must make several stops during their ascent from the bottom of the ocean to avoid decompression sickness.
    — Neil Vigdor, New York Times, 19 July 2019
  • If scuba divers don’t take precautions, the nitrogen bubbles in their bloodstream can cause decompression sickness.
    — Mariette Williams, Essence, 25 Feb. 2025
  • Includes inflating tubes to prevent ebullism, which is similar to decompression sickness.
    — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 2 May 2022
  • And like Atiliano, hundreds have been stricken with the bends — decompression sickness caused when nitrogen bubbles form in divers’ bodies.
    — Moises Castillo, The Seattle Times, 26 Dec. 2018
  • The protocol is intended to prepare them for the spacewalk and lower the risk of decompression sickness, SpaceX said.
    — Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 11 Sep. 2024
  • The salvage work ended that summer, however, after one diver died and two others were paralyzed from decompression sickness.
    — Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 23 June 2022
  • Oxygen flowing into the suits helps purge excess nitrogen from the crew members’ bodies, which lowers the risk of decompression sickness during the spacewalk.
    — Denise Chow, NBC News, 12 Sep. 2024
  • Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has long been used to treat scuba divers who develop decompression sickness.
    — Washington Examiner, 4 Aug. 2020
  • This was done to avoid decompression sickness, a condition similar to what scuba divers experience when changing air pressures too rapidly.
    — Ellie Silverman, Washington Post, 29 May 2018
  • Simply entering or exiting a spacecraft can induce the bends—decompression sickness—in which dissolved nitrogen forms bubbles in the blood.
    — Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 10 Feb. 2025
  • The crew donned their oxygen masks and shortly thereafter the captain became incapacitated from decompression sickness.
    — Washington Post, BostonGlobe.com, 22 May 2018
  • Even without sharks circling, Lisa and Kate have to contend with a diminishing oxygen supply, a cage that’s become a trap, and decompression sickness.
    — Keith Phipps, Vulture, 21 June 2025
  • Scores of fishermen have died from decompression sickness in the past three decades, according to estimates by local fishermen and community leaders.
    — New York Times, 24 Jan. 2021
  • He was later flown to Seattle for hyberbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment for decompression sickness, which is a potential risk of scuba diving.
    — Harmeet Kaur, CNN, 3 Nov. 2020
  • The release said a 22-year-old man who suffered shortness of breath in the dive was flown to Seattle to be treated with hyperbaric oxygen, a therapy for decompression sickness.
    — NBC News, 3 Nov. 2020
  • Because of Tahoe’s altitude, diving below 25 feet introduces greater risk of divers succumbing to decompression sickness.
    — Gregory Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 May 2021
  • This allows aquanauts to easily slip out and conduct underwater research using saturation diving—a technique that reduces the risk of decompression sickness.
    — Elissaveta M. Brandon, Smithsonian Magazine, 24 Aug. 2020
  • Editors’ Picks The chambers can provide lifesaving treatment for people with conditions such as air bubbles in their blood vessels or decompression sickness, also known as the bends.
    — Hank Sanders, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2025
  • On surfacing, after a three-minute safety stop 15-feet below the surface to ensure nitrogen is released from the bloodstream safely to avoid decompression sickness, divers wait by their float as Capt.
    — John Christopher Fine, sun-sentinel.com, 31 Dec. 2020
  • In addition, the therapy shrinks gas bubbles, soothing decompression sickness, and treats carbon monoxide poisoning by removing CO from the bloodstream.
    — Joseph Castro, Discover Magazine, 7 June 2011

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'decompression sickness.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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