What is HBOT?
What is hyperbaric oxygen therapy?
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a treatment used to increase the amount of oxygen reaching the bodies’ cells. It is administered by a patient spending time in a hyperbaric chamber and breathing pure oxygen (pressure above sea level 1 atmospheric pressure) the same sort of chamber as used to treat scuba divers suffering from the benz.
HBOT can be used as part of an integrated approach to patient care or it can be used as the sole treatment for a variety of conditions.
The use of HBOT is widely recognised throughout the world to assist in an array of conditions. Depending on the condition the HBOT is being used to support, the patient will be exposed to an atmosphere of 1.5 and above.
How does it work?
Under normal circumstances, oxygen is absorbed into circulation when we breathe and transported throughout the body only by red blood cells. Under pressure, oxygen can be dissolved into all of the body’s fluids, the plasma, the lymphatic system, the central nervous system fluids, and the bone. This allows us to dissolve, transport and deliver many more times the normal oxygen to our tissues and cells.
Why does it work?
It has long been known that healing many areas of the body cannot take place without appropriate oxygen levels in the tissue. In many cases, such as circulatory problems and non-healing wounds, adequate oxygen cannot easily reach the damaged area.
Oxygen can be carried to areas where circulation is diminished or blocked. In this way, extra oxygen can reach the damaged tissues helping the body to support its own healing process. The increased oxygen enhances the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria, reduces swelling and allows new blood vessels to grow more rapidly into the affected areas.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is safe and effective and provides this extra oxygen absorption with minimal side effects.
10 Primary Benefits of HBOT
- Increased oxygen perfusion- (Immediate increase in free floating oxygen available for tissue use)
- Neovascularization- Angiogenesis (new blood vessel growth)
- Increased white blood cell function (improved neutrophil and macrophage activity)
- Nerve healing factors (increases in VegF, BDNF, HIF1)
- Wound healing Increased capacity for healing (PDGF, VegF, collagen production circulatory healing)
- Stem cell release (up to 8-fold increase in mesenchymal and CNS stem cells)
- Vasoconstriction (decrease edema and swelling from damaged tissues)
- Mitochondrial healing (increase in size, shape and number of mitochondria)
- Anti-inflammatory (reduction of inflammatory cytokines, increase in anti-inflammatory cytokines)
- Anti-microbial/microbiome balancing (reduction in anaerobic pathogens and increase in aerobic probiotics)