The human body is incredibly resilient. Your immune system protects your health and helps heal damaged tissues. With the help of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), you can enhance your body’s healing capabilities to treat various injuries and health conditions.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved this treatment for certain conditions. There are also “off-label” uses for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which means you can treat other conditions and symptoms that the FDA hasn’t specifically reviewed or approved.
How can HBOT improve your health? What does hyperbaric oxygen do for common health conditions and injuries? Dive deep into the science behind this restorative therapy.
How Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Works
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy takes place in a special pressurized chamber. As you lie in the chamber, you breathe in hyperbaric oxygen (100% pure oxygen). For reference, this is about 80% more oxygen than you’d typically breathe in a standard environment.
The increased air pressure, combined with the delivery of pure oxygen into your system, has immense benefits for your health and well-being.
Why Oxygen Is So Important for Healing and Health
Oxygen circulates in your blood after you breathe it in. It’s a necessary element that all humans need to survive, which is why it’s essential to breathe. Among other functions, oxygen supports immunity and regenerative processes in your body.
Oxygen helps with:
- Blood vessel formation
- Energy metabolism
- Tissue repair
- Stem cell formation
- Immune cell support
- Protein synthesis
All of these functions help speed up the wound healing and tissue recovery process. If you’re struggling with a health problem, your body may use hyperbaric oxygen to regenerate, restore, and repair the affected cells and tissues.
The Role of Increased Air Pressure in Healing
HBOT chambers are pressurized to help your lungs take in more oxygen molecules as you breathe. Essentially, you’re getting more oxygen molecules per breath than you would in lower-pressure environments, which helps boost the efficacy of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
This extra air pressure helps hyperbaric oxygen do the work it needs to do on wounds and systemic problems.
Other Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen
HBOT comes with anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial benefits. Along with repairing blood vessels and generating new, healthy cells, HBOT mediates inflammation through cytokine control. Hyperbaric oxygen can also promote natural anti-inflammatory processes in your body to reduce chronic pain and inflammation.
Anaerobic bacteria cannot survive in high-oxygen environments. HBOT helps reduce their growth to improve your recovery after bacterial infections. For soft tissue infections like necrotizing fasciitis, this anti-bacterial action may also make antibiotic treatments more effective.
What Conditions Has the FDA Approved HBOT For?
The FDA goes through rigorous testing, conducts and reviews studies, and ensures the safety of each treatment it evaluates. HBOT has been approved to treat these conditions, which include sudden health events.
Ulcers and Other Chronic Wounds
Non-healing wounds don’t respond to traditional medical treatments and either remain the same or get worse over several weeks and months.
The FDA has approved hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat non-healing, chronic wounds like certain types of ulcers. Spending time in an HBOT chamber can help repair the oxygen-deprived tissues in the wound(s) and form new blood vessels. This then increases wound oxygenation even after you’re out of the chamber.
Traumatic Injuries
Sudden, traumatic injuries can be difficult to heal from, especially if your body isn’t functioning at 100%. HBOT gives your system a helpful boost to encourage tissue healing and regeneration. It’s especially helpful for crush injuries, where sustained and intense pressure has damaged a part of your body.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Breathing in carbon monoxide can seriously injure your body. Early intervention is crucial for this type of poisoning, since carbon monoxide can cut off oxygen flow to your brain and other organs. This type of damage is known as hypoxia.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps replace the harmful molecules with oxygen in your blood, effectively treating carbon monoxide poisoning.
Gas Gangrene
Gangrene is caused by a lack of blood flow to a specific body part. Gas gangrene is a form of the condition caused by a bacterial infection. Bacteria known as Clostridium release toxic gas in your body and break down muscle tissue, blood vessels, and essential blood cells.
HBOT effectively treats gas gangrene by displacing the toxic gases in your system with oxygen. It stimulates efficient healing processes in your body, allowing oxygen to heal and protect damaged tissues.
Radiation Injuries
Radiation necrosis can occur over time from cancer treatments. Once-healthy tissues become damaged and start to die. With the help of HBOT, you can treat and possibly reverse some of the negative effects of radiation treatments.
This therapy increases oxygen flow to the damaged tissues that need it most. Oxygen therapy stimulates new blood vessel formation and can reduce thickened scar tissue in the affected area to improve overall tissue health.
Embolisms and Decompression Illness
Air or gas embolisms put your health at risk by introducing bubbles into your bloodstream. Similarly, decompression sickness (known as “the bends”) is caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in your blood. These bubbles block proper blood flow throughout your body.
Air and gas embolisms are potential complications of surgical procedures and IV infusions. HBOT helps displace the air or nitrogen (or other gas) bubbles and shrink them to improve blood flow. Once these bubbles are dissolved, your risk of tissue damage and injury falls drastically.
Can HBOT Be Used for Non-Approved Conditions?
While the FDA has approved HBOT to treat some conditions, others require off-label use. These uses can still be beneficial for your health, especially if your condition or problem is still being studied in relation to oxygen therapy.
Some common off-label conditions that HBOT can treat include:
- Post-stroke symptoms
- Fibromyalgia
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Chronic Lyme disease
- Some motor and cognitive problems
- Inflammatory health conditions
Read through any provided paperwork and guidelines carefully to determine whether HBOT is a good choice for your condition.
Diving Into HBOT to Improve Your Health
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-studied, effective health treatment. Medical professionals use it to treat FDA-approved conditions, but it can also be used for off-label conditions and symptoms.
If you’re struggling with infections, tissue damage, or chronic illness, HBOT may be just what you need. At Nenergy Boost, we make HBOT treatments comfortable and offer our professional guidance every step of the way.
Book an appointment with us today!