Why Hyperbaric Chambers?
“Aging, the loss of the immortality of youth is like the water that freezes between the rocks and splits that rock. It doesn’t happen on purpose, it just happens.”
Scott Tinley, former professional athlete, February, 1999
How can we keep our favorite players, role models, and icons competing and excelling in what they love to do? Today’s modern science of the portable hyperbaric chamber is the answer that allows athletes of every level to recover faster, perform sharper, and train longer!
The idea was first developed through scuba diving when divers reported feeling refreshed and invigorated, even after surfacing. Some claimed their joint stiffness went away and their focus became really sharp. Today, medical studies on the healing properties of hyperbaric chambers have triggered this therapy’s growth beyond the diving world…
- The average NFL career is 3 years
- A professional soccer player’s career expectancy is 2 years
- The average length of time for a professional baseball player to entertain America’s “favorite pastime” is 6 years
- NBA players experience a career length of roughly 5 years
- A mixed martial artist’s career is expected to be between 1-3 years
Recovery
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, also known as HBO or HBOT, may serve to provide a means of therapy to facilitate a speedier resumption to pre-injury activity levels as well as improve the short and long term prognosis of the injury (Babler and Rhodes, “The Role of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Sports Medicine.” Sports Med. 2000)
Fatigue
Increasing the oxgyen supply to a musculoskeletal system in the state of fatigue activates cellular activity, increases adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis, and promotes the metabolism of fatigue substances. HBOT is considered as a method of promoting recovery from fatigue. (Ishii et al, “Hyperbaric Oxygen As An Adjuvent for Athletes.” Sports Med. 2005)
Performance
The increased oxygenation allows for many health benefits, such as cell growth and regeneration, detoxification, immune support, new capillary growth, and improved neurological functioning.
The Power of Oxygen
On average, an individual consumes about six pounds of oxygen per day, far outweighing any other nutrient demands. Although oxygen performs many roles in the body, its primary role is in the production of energy. Yes, that is correct, only fifty percent of our energy comes from the fats and carbohydrates we consume. In order for our bodies to make this stored energy usable, our cells must convert this energy into molecules of ATP using OXYGEN!
By using the hyperbaric chamber, we are able to greatly increase the partial pressure of oxygen, which then dissolves the oxygen into the plasma and other waterborne fluids of the body. This is extremely significant because water and gases dissolved within it, are able to cross the cells semi-permeable membrane via osmosis and diffusion. Since the body is approximately seventy percent water and every cell literally bathes in water, we use the chamber to deliver oxygen to every tissue in the body… Our bodies do the rest!
Here are just a few of the benefits of HBOT:
- delivers oxygen to tissues up to 25 times normal levels
- stimulates the production of body stem cells
- boosts immune system function
- decreases swelling and inflammation
- helps the body to clear toxins and increases the body’s ability to fight infection
- promotes regeneration of injured tissues
- reduces fatigue from chronic inadequate oxygen supply to the cells and tissues of the body
- reduces jet lag related fatigue symptoms
- decreases ligament and tissue healing time
- successfully treats traumatic and ischemic brain injuries
Who would ever believe that something as natural and simple as the air we breathe (at an increased pressure level) could give our athletes the extra edge that is unavailable in pill or powder..
Dr. Rossignol, medical doctor and hyperbaric specialist, equated an hour treatment in a personal hyperbaric chamber to taking 1400 mg of Motrin, without the toxic response.
“You get increased oxygenation, decreased swelling, and decreased inflammation, all from one treatment. If a drug did this, a pharmaceutical company would make quite a bit of money.”
Dr. Dan Rossignol
