Definition: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
By Mayo Clinic staff

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a well-established treatment for decompression sickness, a hazard of scuba diving. Other conditions treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy include serious infections, bubbles of air in your blood vessels, and wounds that won't heal as a result of diabetes or radiation injury. In a hyperbaric oxygen therapy room, the air pressure is raised up to three times higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions, your lungs can gather up to three times more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.  
Your blood carries this oxygen throughout your body, stimulating the release of substances called growth factors and stem cells, which promote healing.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy relieves the oxygen starvation of the brain known as hypoxia. Since full blood circulation to specific areas of the brain is impaired, increasing the rate at which oxygen diffuses into all of the body's fluids increases the amount of oxygen carried to the hypoxic brain tissues. Oxygen enriched cerebrospinal fluid will help to repair any recoverable brain tissue that is intact but not functioning normal. In many cases, HBOT has shown these idling neurons have started to function more efficiently, producing long-term improvements in both brain and clinical function. With the improvement of micro circulation and the relief of any brain swelling, a patient can experience a reduction in spasticity and an improvement in cognitive ability, vision, gross and fine motor skills, hearing and speech.

The brain now has the ability to learn and to process thought into actions. Depending on the age at the time of injury, many times the therapies now are able to be put into action. The patient may also now be able to go through the many stages of neurological steps. This steps may be skipping, crawling, standing, reactions as the brain now is going through a catch up stage of learning. With the permanent new blood supply the effects of HBOT will go on and on.

Some patients will suddenly be able to put into action a certain physical therapy or neuro-therapy, which never seemed to have an influence before.

In some, the most significant improvements are often seen when the HBOT is over; in some cases weeks later. Sadly, sometimes HBOT does not get the live saving recognition, acknowledgement, and credit it so well deserves.

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Patrick and Susan Rodriguez CHT, EMT, DMT

Parents of Susie, Danielle, Renee

Recovered