Cramps in the abdomen and limbs due to bubbles of gas in the blood.
Painful, sometimes fatal condition in which, because of a rapid drop in outside pressure, nitrogen bubbles form in the body and cause pain, disorientation, and faintness, as when a diver ascends too quickly. Treatment is by return to a higher pressure environment and gradual decompression in a special chamber. Also called caisson disease, decompression sickness.
The nonmedical term for decompression sickness. The term is used especially to refer to the severe bone and joint pains that are a common symptom in divers who rise to the surface too rapidly.