Oxygen Therapy, Who Benefits Most?

Oxygen therapy comes in many forms. One of the most interesting of all is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). In this treatment, the air that is delivered to the body contains 100% pure oxygen under a pressure that is twice than normal. Pressurized oxygen dissolves much faster into the bloodstream and provides tissues, plasma, cells, and organs the oxygen it craves at a concentration ten times higher than normal conditions. Due to this increased pressure and oxygen levels, hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves the flow of oxygen to blocked arteries, stimulating the finer capillaries, the healthy dilation of veins in critical organs, increases the production of Superoxide Dismutase enzymes and antioxidants that are important to cellular health throughout the body. The use of increased atmospheric pressure to deliver more oxygen to a patient’s body dates back to 1783 when Dr. Caillens of France began testing this treatment. Although hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been in use since the late 1700s, it was only recently that it has gained momentum as a treatment for cognitive diseases. Ailments such as autism, cerebral palsy, brain injury, and multiple sclerosis have seen very positive results from oxygen therapy. The end game in this type of treatment is to help support the body’s own healing mechanisms at the cellular level. By influencing angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can increase the flow of healing oxygen to the weakened tissues. This makes it a very effective cure for wounds that are caused by venous stasis, diabetes, arterial insufficiency, and pressure ulcers. The process involves placing the patient in the hyperbaric chamber where the ambient pressure is dialed up 2-3 times the normal atmospheric pressure. By breathing 100% pure oxygen at the elevated pressure, angiogenesis is stimulated causing an accelerated healing rate. One particular disease that has responded well to hyperbaric oxygen therapy is reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), a condition where the patient experiences severe pain, light sensitivity, tissue swelling and muscular atrophy. Treating the symptoms of pain with high doses of steroids, NSAIDS and other pain management pharmacological products can produce relief but do not treat the disease. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has also shown to provide relief from these symptoms without the harmful side effects of medications. Aside from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, this therapy has also shown promise in treating radiation necrosis, wound care and brain stroke recovery. Although it might seem that hyperbaric oxygen therapy in Palm Harbor is only a treatment for serious conditions, HBOT can also help ease lower back pain in Tampa patients or help with neck pain relief in Florida patients as well as a vertigo treatment in Clearwater. Those that seek dizziness and vertigo help in Pinnellas County, it is important that you choose a good neurological care facility that subscribes to hyperbaric oxygen therapy and qualified professional to can help explain these alternative types of treatments. Our goal was to help you understand that there are those that benefit from the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and the practice is well accepted in the medical community when delivered by qualified pain management doctors.