During the Super Bowl XLIII pregame show, Andrea Kremer reported on the sidelines that Steelers Hines Ward was doing everything he possibly could to make sure he could play. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy came to his rescue! Hyperbaric oxygen chamber was a well-known component of his recovery.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) has a long history. The first chamber used to treat patients was constructed in 1662 by Henshaw. And yes, that date is correct, which makes hyperbaric therapy almost 350 years old. Needless to say, there have been a large number of studies done, and its effectiveness has been well established.
How does HBOT cure?
HBOT treatments involve placing you in a chamber, and then increasing the atmospheric pressure. During the treatment you breathe pure oxygen. This saturates the tissues with oxygen, and reverses any areas of hypoxia (low oxygen levels). As a comparison, the average person breathes in about 6 pounds of oxygen a day, which is about the same amount by weight of food and water intake.
During a single hour of HBOT, a person will take in about 2.4 pounds of oxygen. This increases the oxygen content of the tissues by a factor of 10-15.
Some of the effects that HBOT has are :
- to promote the growth of new blood vessels,
- decreases swelling and inflammation,
- deactivates toxins, increase the body’s ability to fight infections,
- clears out toxins and metabolic waste products,
- improve the rate of healing.