Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a healing and re-energizing procedure performed on patients while they relax comfortably in a pressurized chamber. HBOT was first used decades ago to treat decompression sickness from deep-sea scuba diving and carbon monoxide poisoning and has more recently been FDA approved to treat everything from vision loss to brain injuries to infections. Current and on-going clinical trials are beginning to show that HBOT can also be a benefit for long-haul COVID-19 patients, helping to stop the progression of the virus and related pneumonia, rejuvenate hypoxic organs, and accelerate the body’s natural healing process.
In fact, HBOT has become so helpful in the treatment of COVID-19 patients that the World Health Organization has officially recognized and classified HBOT as a drug-free, non-invasive treatment for the disease, in both active COVID and for patients with lingering symptoms caused by COVID. It is also FDA-approved for a variety of tissue ailments and respiratory disorders commonly associated with COVID-19. This is good news for patients who suffer from persistent health issues due to COVID-19.
Acute Symptoms of COVID Respond to HBOT
During the height of the pandemic, hospitals in both the U.S. and China used HBOT to treat dozens of critically ill COVID-19 patients suffering from pneumonia, severe breathlessness. It was also used in cases where patients had multiple high-risk factors including heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Reports from these treatments indicate that after only a short cycle of HBOT, patients were able to make rapid and full recoveries.
Persistent COVID Symptoms a Problem for Some Patients
Harvard Medical School reports that more than 40 percent of COVID patients experienced neurologic issues almost immediately, and more than 30 percent of ‘recovered’ COVID patients suffer impaired cognition or brain damage. This occurs in many survivors, causing pervasive yet subtle cognitive, behavioral, and psychological problems.
HBOT has proven to be an extremely valuable therapy in the recovery and healing of brain injuries by reducing hypoxia and neuroinflammation, while increasing circulation in the brain. It does so by increasing oxygen levels in the body 5-7 times what is normally available, breathing at normal atmospheric pressure.
COVID patients also report muscle aches and pain, which can involve ligaments, tendons and fascia, the soft tissues that connect muscles, bones and organs, headaches, encephalopathy (brain fog, difficulty concentrating), dizziness, taste disorders, and a loss of smell. After recovering from COVID-19, many patients continue to suffer from these and other symptoms. The most common symptoms that people with long COVID-19 experience include: fatigue, shortness of breath, cardiac abnormalities like an elevated heart rate, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbances, symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, muscle pain, concentration problems, and headaches.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, more than 10,000 clinical trials and case studies were conducted to test many health-related applications of hyperbaric treatment including many of the health issues experienced by recovered COVID patients. Most of these trials results reported overwhelming success. At Hawthorn Healing Arts Center we are successfully treating long-haul patients—those who no longer test positive for COVID-19 but complain of debilitating symptoms, with very good results. These patients are showing excellent recovery rates, and most have been able to resume more normal daily functions.
How it works
HBOT helps increase oxygen absorption by increasing the atmospheric pressure from inside the chamber. The pressure inside the chamber is normally two to three times greater than outside air pressure, which means patients are inhaling 100% oxygen. The Hawthorn HBOT chamber increases pressure to 1.3 ATA which is the equivalent of the pressure felt when diving approximately 10 feet under water.
Normally, oxygen is transported throughout the body as it is absorbed by the lungs and then circulated to all the tissues and organs via the heart and blood vessels. Hyperbaric chambers work by delivering oxygen in a way that can be enhanced and controlled. The oxygen chamber makes it possible for oxygen to be dissolved in the blood, body fluids, cerebral spinal fluid (the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal column), bone tissue, and lymph nodes.
The body needs oxygen to heal itself. Many injuries and illnesses result in situations that deprive the body of oxygen-rich blood, putting the affected areas of the body at risk. When oxygen-rich fluids are present in the body, oxygen is able to travel to areas where blood circulation may be blocked due to disease, trauma or accident. It is believed that the body is helped to heal as HBOT provides high levels of oxygen to cells that really need it — such as the brain and nervous system. Additional ways HBOT supports healing includes;
- Enabling immune cells to kill bacteria
- Reducing inflammation
- Allowing for collateral circulation (growth of new blood vessels to provide extra oxygen to affected areas of the body)
HBOT allows oxygen to infuse with many types of liquids in the body including blood, plasma, and cerebral fluids. Healing begins when damaged tissue receives much-needed oxygen and circulation returns to the area.
HBOT Treatment Available at Hawthorn
To find out more about HBOT at Hawthorn Healing Arts Center, or to find out if this therapy is right for you, call 541-330-0334 or visit Hawthorn’s HBOT Services for more information and links to supportive studies and research.