Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, also referred to as HBOT therapy or hyperbaric chamber therapy, is a medical procedure designed to speed up the body’s natural healing processes.
Early in the 20th century, the United States adopted hyperbaric oxygen booking for the first time. Later, it was employed to address the scuba diver’s risk of decompression sickness. Today, HBOT therapy is recommended and overseen by medical facilities for various health and wellness issues. Depending on your insurance coverage and the ailment it is used to treat, it may even be reimbursed by insurance.
This article examines the operation of hyperbaric chambers and the conditions that HBOT therapy is frequently used to treat.
Conditions for which the FDA has approved the sale of hyperbaric chambers
A medical device must meet the same safety and effectiveness standards as another of its kind that is lawfully marketed in the United States in order to receive FDA certification. The FDA has approved hyperbaric chambers as of July 2021 for the following issues:
- Air/gas bubbles in blood vessels
- Anaemia
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Decompression sickness
- Severe Burns
- Skin graft flap at risk of tissue death
- Gas gangrene
- Sudden vision loss due to compromised blood flow
- Wounds (non-healing, diabetic foot ulcers)
- Complete hearing loss
- Infection of the skin and bone (severe)
Another disorder being researched for by HBOT is COVID-19. The FDA has not yet approved or authorised the use of any HBOT devices to treat COVID-19 or any other conditions aside from those mentioned above.
The process of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
When receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you unwind in a pressurised tube or room while breathing only 100% oxygen. The air pressure in these cosy places is up to three times higher than usual. By assisting your lungs in absorbing more oxygen than is normally possible, this method raises the amount of oxygen in your blood.
Increasing the amount of oxygen in your blood has various positive health effects. First off, your body’s tissue requires a lot of oxygen to survive, and injured tissue needs even more. Therefore, by temporarily raising your blood’s oxygen level with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, you can restore these healthy levels and improve your tissue’s capacity to fend against infection and bacteria.
By accelerating the creation of crucial growth factors and stem cells, hyperbaric oxygen therapy also jumpstarts your body’s natural healing process.
Hyperoxia and hyperbaric oxygen therapy advantages
The blood’s high oxygen content enhances the transport of oxygen to tissues that aren’t getting enough oxygen at baseline (i.e. hypoxic tissues).
- The alternating hyperoxia and hypoxia that takes place during a series of HBO treatments encourage neovascularization or the creation of new blood vessels into the hypoxic tissues.
- The body’s capacity to kill specific microorganisms is improved by hyperoxia.
- Other effects of HBO therapy include reducing inflammation and reperfusion injury, as well as decreasing air bubbles in the blood or tissue (as occurs in decompression disease, often known as the bends). The three aforementioned elements are crucial to HBO treatment for the majority of illnesses.
Final Words
Although hyperbaric chamber therapy is still not widely accepted as a kind of standard medical care; there is clinical research to support the effectiveness and safety of this treatment for a number of illnesses. However, many of the claims for popular applications of HBOT are not supported by sufficient evidence.
It’s important to do some research and even speak with your healthcare practitioner or other healthcare experts before beginning to buy a hyperbaric unit, just like with any other natural healthcare treatment technique. Check for the appropriate costs of complete treatment and choose the one which is reputable and nearest to you.