Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a drug-free, noninvasive, painless treatment that works by boosting the body’s natural healing processes. It does this by breathing pure O2 under higher than normal air pressure. This encourages the body to heal from many different types of chronic wounds, injury, and infection.
The Benefits of HBOT
HBOT is not the air we’re typically used to breathing. The air around us is a mixture of gases, with oxygen making up approximately 21% of the total volume. Under HBOT, you are breathing 100% pure medical-grade oxygen while lying down in a specially designed pressurized chamber. The high amount of oxygen your body is exposed to in HBOT can help your body do just that – heal itself and rehabilitate an injury or a chronic wound. It can also be used to re-energize cells and tissues that are on the brink of death due to reduced blood supply. HBOT can also help reduce swelling, inflammation and can even combat infection-causing bacteria. HBOT helps wounds heal and offers other benefits by:
- Boosting circulation and
- Reducing swelling and inflammation
- Killing the bacteria that cause infection
- Boosting the body’s defense against free radicals, which are harmful, unstable molecules that build up in your cells and cause damage.
HBOT also stimulates the creation of new blood vessels. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a great adjunct to wound treatment. In the most difficult and extreme cases, it’s an absolutely massive help in saving legs and lives.
How the Benefits of HBOT Work
In normal conditions, red blood cells carry oxygen from the lungs to the body’s tissues and organs. In the pressurized chamber with HBOT, oxygen is dissolved directly into the blood plasma – the liquid portion of blood that carries proteins, hormones, and nutrients. Plasma makes up over 50% of the body’s total blood volume.
The oxygen is then carried deep into the body’s tissues. The lymphatics and cerebrospinal fluid surround and bathe the brain and spinal cord. The plasma then carries pure oxygen to the body. Plasma transporting pure oxygen levels translate to up to or over 1,000 percent higher than normal body oxygen levels. This means that delivering high levels of oxygen via the plasma is therapeutic and can boost the body’s natural ability to heal in people with selected pathological conditions.
Conditions Treated with HBOT
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves hyperbaric oxygen therapy for treating a wide range of conditions and injuries, including “chronic or nonhealing wounds.” Some of the conditions that can be treated using HBOT include:
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Crush injury
- Diabetic foot ulceration
- Non-surgical skin graft and flap failures
- Gangrene
- Necrotizing soft tissue infections (This is when most or all cellular components in a specific area of the body die as a result of disease, disturbance or reduced blood supply) ·
- Osteomyelitis (Infection and/or inflammation in the bones)
- Tissue damage from radiation
- Severe burns
- Traumatic ischemia – restriction of blood flow to an area of the body
There are a few risks and side effects that come with HBOT but it is an extremely safe procedure. Patients may develop a reversible ear or lung pressure injury, hypoglycemia, or temporary visual changes in very rare cases.
What to Expect During an HBOT Treatment Session
After your physician has determined you are a candidate for HBOT, they will work with you to create a treatment plan that is specific to your condition, the severity of your symptoms, and your health goals. The severity of your symptoms and your health goals will dictate how many treatment sessions you will need to do and what pressure level will be used in the chamber. Most treatment regimens require 20-40 treatments that are spread out over a period of four to six weeks. Each of these treatments will take 90 minutes to 2 hours.
On the day of treatment, a technician will check your vital signs and complete a safety checklist, making sure that you have removed all jewelry, watches, and electronics and that you haven’t applied any lotions or perfumes. They will also provide a water bottle that you can drink from during treatment. Drinking water will help clear your ears when the chamber pressurizes, which is similar to the ear popping sensation that occurs when riding in airplanes.
All you do from there is get into the chamber, which has been designed for such treatments, and breathe as you normally would. You can listen to music, watch television, or a movie or even fall asleep. At all times during your treatment session, you will be able to see your technician, and they will be able to hear you if you have any questions or concerns. Once your session is complete, your technician will do a final vitals check, and you are free to go about your day. There is no recovery time required.
Is HBOT Right for Me?
HBOT therapy is not for all patients and requires a high level of commitment from the patient to commit to and attend all their prescribed sessions. If you’re considering HBOT treatment, we encourage you to speak to your physician about the potential benefits and risks associated with this highly targeted therapy, then give us a call at Campbell Chiropractic and Wellness Center at 702-734-8844 to schedule treatment.
