What is Hyperbaric Oxygenation Therapy (HBOT)?
I was first introduced to the benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy (HBOT) in 2016. HBOT is a painless and non-invasive therapy used in many hospitals and health centres all over the world. There are so many benefits to HBOT that it may be something to consider as part of your own healing.
How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy works
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen through a mask in a pressurized Hyperbaric chamber. In this chamber, the air pressure is increased two to three times higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions, your lungs can gather much more oxygen than would be possible by breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure. This results in higher levels of oxygen getting into the bloodstream, which enhances the healing capacity of damaged tissues. It does this by stimulating the formation of new blood vessels, new collagen (connective tissue), and new skin cells.
What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy used for
For years HBOT has been the definitive treatment for decompression illness, and carbon monoxide poisoning. Today it is considered an adjunct medicine for a range of medical conditions, as it supports the body’s healing process:
- Helps the body fight bacteria and stimulate the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.
- HBOT can also help with inflammation and infection by stopping harmful bacteria and strengthening the body’s immune system.
- It is also used to speed up or improve recovery from surgery of any kind. HBOT can help reduce inflammation and bruising of the damaged tissue while saturating it in oxygen and supercharging its regrowth. If treatment is conducted soon enough after surgery it can also reduce post-op pain, and improve your overall recovery from surgery.
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy could help patients with tissue healing following radiation therapy. By adding more oxygen into the bloodstream, HBOT helps overcome the vascular changes triggered by excessive radiation exposure.
- Studies have shown that it is very effective in sports injuries and can reduce recovery time for muscle damage, joint, ligament, and tendon injuries.
- Helpful for managing MS symptoms including the bladder, and fatigue.
- Beneficial for diabetic wounds that are not healing properly.
What is a Hyperbaric Oxygen Session
A hyperbaric oxygen session usually lasts around 1 hour and 20 mins. It is a simulated dive, where people are seated in a chamber and air is used instead of water. The 20 minutes are made up of the Chamber pressurisation (using air) at the beginning and the de-pressurisation at the end. There is an hour in between while clients breathe 100% pure oxygen through a face mask or hood. Depending on the HBOC clinic the type of chamber available may differ. Some centres have large chambers while others have smaller mono units. The centre I use is BHOC it is based in Bandon, Cork, this centre is run by volunteers, therefore, it is not as expensive as other centres.
How many sessions are recommended?
This depends completely on the condition being treated and ranges from two-three one-hour treatment sessions to 10 – 20, 20-40 sessions. It was recommended that I have 20 sessions as close together as I could possibly manage. I did this over 3 weeks but if you can do it faster that would be even better.
Precautions
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is not for everyone. It should not be used by people who have had recent ear surgery or ear trauma, a cold or fever, or certain types of lung disease. Please do your own research before using this facility, it is best to speak to your doctor. You may need to get written consent from your doctor before using this therapy.