Between the Devil and the Deep: Battling Bends Beneath the Surface

Beneath the surface, a puzzling, human-induced ailment lies hidden. Known by various names like Satan's disease, diver's palsy, or the chokes, it's now recognized as decompression sickness, or the bends.

British diver Martin Robson confronts this devil each time he dives.

In 2012, during an expedition to Blue Lake, southern Russia, seeking an unseen cave system, Robson faced disaster on the final day.

As he resurfaced from a record-breaking dive, seventy-five feet down, the bends struck him.