Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (also known as HBOT) is a medical treatment which is increasingly used around the world to treat a wide array of conditions and diagnoses.
A painless and non-evasive technique of delivering pure oxygen to the entire body, a patient simply relaxes in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber into which 100% medical grade oxygen is administered. The atmospheric pressure within the chamber is raised through the delivery of the oxygen resulting in the entire circulatory system of the patient being hyper oxygenated.
In situations where an area of the body has been damaged as the result of surgery, illness or injury, effective delivery of blood to the affected areas (and beyond) may be limited due to a lack of capacity of the available blood vessels. Like a traffic jam, this restriction (or occlusion) dramatically lowers the transfer of oxygen to the cells. Without sufficient oxygen, healing does not occur.
During HBOT your body is effectively saturated with oxygen, an essential element used by your body for healing. HBOT forces oxygen, under pressure, to cells and tissues that suffer from a lack of oxygen (hypoxia). Tissues suffering from hypoxia are unable to heal themselves as effectively as when they have oxygen. Most cells in areas of inflammation or other types of injury are suffering from hypoxia. HBOT also boosts the abilities of the immune system by accelerating the creation of new white blood cells, the sentinel of the bloodstream.
Air contains nearly 21% oxygen, and more than 78% nitrogen. In HBOT, 100% oxygen is breathed by the patient, ie. almost five times more than in air. The pressure of the oxygen breathed by the patient in HBOT is usually around 2.5 times greater than atmospheric pressure. So, HBOT can deliver to the patient over twenty times as much oxygen as there is in air at normal pressure.
The extra oxygen is breathed in through the lungs, and dissolved in the blood plasma: it is then delivered to any part of the body with a good blood supply. HBOT has been clinically proven to have extremely positive effects on human health. The effects of this extra oxygen are different in different parts of the body: in some medical conditions it can save a life, and in others it can promote healing and tissue repair.
HBOT diffuses oxygen into the soft tissues and blood plasma encouraging new blood vessels to form; thereby delivering highly oxygenated blood to the affected area of the body and accelerating the body’s ability to heal itself.
Some of the key benefits of HBOT are as follows:
- increases Stem Cell Growth
- significantly reduces swelling
- significantly reduces edema
- significantly shortens the inflammatory process
- improves range of motion
- increases the production of collagen
- increases growth of cells that form reparative tissue (fibroblastic proliferation)
- supports scar tissue rehabilitation
- promotes greater tissue strength
- enhances the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis)
- increases oxygen levels in tissues (hyperoxia)
- increases oxygen perfusion area around wounds
- stimulates new capillary growth
- HBOT improves the survival of tissues in the ‘grey area’ of crush injuries
- increases production and improves the action of Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts
- improves bone regeneration for faster recovery
- helps prevent infections
- increases white blood cell production
- enhances ability of white blood cells to remove bacteria and debris (leukocyte activity)
- potentiates the use of antibiotics
- destroys harmful bacteria (antimicrobial effects)