What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT?

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a treatment in which a patient breathes air or varying amounts of oxygen while inside a pressurized chamber, the pressure being anything above 1 atmosphere.

What are the benefits?

It is used around the world to treat a wide range of conditions, including autism, diabetic ulcers, strokes, traumatic brain injuries, migraines, wounds, inflammation, orthopedic rehabilitation, crush injuries, and is becoming used in a much wider range as research develops. It is also used by athletes who wish to speed up recovery of tissue damage caused by hard training. 

How does it work?

Increased pressure allows for oxygen to dissolve and saturate the blood plasma (independent of hemoglobin/red blood cells), which yields a broad variety of positive physiological, biochemical and cellular effects. This noninvasive therapy is the most trusted way to increase oxygen levels to all organs of the body. The typical treatment lasts for 60-90 minutes, during which the patient lies down and breathes normally. 
 

How long has it been around?

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can be traced back to the 1600’s. Then in 1878, Paul Bert, a French physiologist, discovered the link between decompression sickness and nitrogen bubbles. Bert later identified that the pain could be ameliorated with recompression.
Hyperbaric chambers were later developed by the military in the 1940’s to treat deep-sea divers who suffered from decompression sickness. In the 1950’s, physicians first employed HBOT during heart and lung surgery, which led to its use for carbon monoxide poisoning in the 1960’s. Since then, over 10,000 clinical trials and case studies have been completed for numerous other health-related applications with the vast majority of results reporting resounding success.