Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Therapy
Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Therapy (HBOT) is a method of delivering extra oxygen into the body, mainly through the process of increasing the pressure that the body is normally under.
In terms of HBOT, pressure is normally quantified in ATA and currently we are all standardized to be under 1.0 ATA of atmospheric pressure. When someone undergoes hyperbaric therapy, the pressure becomes greater than 1.0 ATA and in hospitals and wound care centers can typically reach 2.0 or even 3.0 ATA. Each atmospheric pressure represents 33 feet of seawater so at 2.0 ATA, it would be equivalent for you to be at a depth of 33 feet below sea level. Once at this depth, 100% oxygen will be administered for the full duration of the treatment, which normally lasts for 60 to 90 minutes per session, and this procedure can be repeated twice per day with a 4-hour break in between. For chronic or hard-to-heal wounds, this dosage is typically repeated daily from anywhere between 10 and 80 hours.
Mild Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (m-HBOT) represents a lower pressurized chamber, generally under 1.5 ATA, and typically at 1.3 ATA. These lower atmospheric pressures (representing roughly only 10 feet below sea level) allow for greater safety, while still allowing for the delivery of much higher levels of oxygen into the tissues. The FDA has cleared m-HBOT as an approved treatment for those suffering from altitude sickness, where oxygen levels can become dangerously low at higher elevations — a condition that can be even be life threatening. The extra oxygen delivered through m-HBOT is so significant that it can be enough to help reverse this life threatening condition.
WHAT DOES IT HELP WITH?
The FDA approves hyperbaric treatments for the following 13 conditions:
- Decompression Sickness
- Gas embolism
- CO and Cyanide poisoning
- Gas Gangrene
- Selected aerobic and anaerobic soft tissue infections
- Osteomyelitis, Intracranial abscess
- Management of Fungal disease
- Radiation injury to tissue
- Exceptional blood loss/anemia
- Crush injury/compartment syndrome
- Ischemia repercussion injuries
- Skin grafts and flaps
- Healing in selected problem wounds
- Treatment of thermal burns
Many doctors and clinical researchers in the field of hyperbaric medicine believe that HBOT may help many more conditions and improve quality of life. Conditions such as:
- Traumatic Brain and Spinal Code Injuries
- Stem Cell mobilization
- Cerebral Palsy
- Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
- Huntington’s Disease
- Cancer (reduces side effects of conventional cancer therapies such as radiation & Chemotherapy)
- Arthritis (remediation)
- Accelerates Recovery from Sports-Related & High Impact Injuries
BENEFITS OF MILD HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY (m-HBOT)?
Again, one of the key determinants of HBOT is pressure and the greater the pressure, the greater the amount of dissolved oxygen into the body – Note, it does not take much pressure to deliver extra amounts of physiologically-available oxygen. During m-HBOT, the added pressure allows extra oxygen to be absorbed and transferred from the lungs into the blood, causing a greater saturation of blood oxygen levels. As this rich oxygenated blood makes its way to damaged tissue, extra oxygen is now readily available and can be potentially utilized for enhancing tissue repair and regeneration while also still being able to provide its potent anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial effects.