Treating Strains and Sprains with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Strains and sprains cause inflammation and blood vessel damage that reduce blood flow to the site of injury, which limits our ability to heal. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy supercharges our healing processes by its ability to dissolve abundant levels of oxygen into the plasma of our bloodstream while in a pressurized environment.
Strains and sprains cause inflammation and blood vessel damage that reduce blood flow to the site of injury, which limit its ability to heal.
Common symptoms
Strain and Sprains can cause a wide range of symptoms, but common symptoms include:
- inflammation
- swelling
- poor blood circulation
- blood vessel damage
- nerve irritation
How can hyperbaric oxygen therapy help with Strain and Sprains?
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy supercharges our healing processes through pressure and its ability to dissolve abundant levels of plasma oxygen into our bloodstream.
- providing abundant levels of plasma-rich oxygen to our tissue for healing
- reducing inflammation throughout our brain and body
- reducing swelling
- increasing fibroblast production which are critical to healing
- reducing scarring (fibrosis)
- increasing stem cell production for tissue repair
- improving detoxification
- increasing collagen production, which is the most abundant protein in the body and is a major contributor to the health of our joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles, bone, and skin.
- increasing flexibility of joints and muscles (by stimulating the hydroxylation of proline and lysine)
- stimulating osteoblasts that are essential for new bone production and repair.
- stimulating release of growth factors such as trophic factor to enhance repair and regeneration at the cellular level.
- stimulating growth of new blood vessels to supply tissue with greater circulation and oxygen to promote repair and regeneration by releasing greater amounts of vascular endothelial growth factor
- balancing our fight or flight and relaxation and digestion systems by strengthening the health of our autonomic nervous system, impacting blood flow within our brain that leads to dizziness, headaches, slow processing, memory changes and many other symptoms
- enhancing cerebrospinal fluid flow
Other benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a quickly evolving science and the full benefits are continually being discovered. HBOT increases the amount of oxygen in our bloodstream and increases circulation to deliver abundant amounts of oxygen to the brain, supersaturating our tissue with energy needed for healing, growth, and repair. This creates a healthier environment for our brain to work and control our autonomic nervous system. Because of this, the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy can be found in all parts of the body and in a wide range of ways. Some benefits can include:
- Faster healing from trauma
- Reduced inflammation
- Increased stem cell release
- Improved brain health
- Detoxification
- Improved autonomic nervous system function
- …and many more
Learn more about the many benefits of HBOT and how it works.
Supporting Research
- Recently, separate studies from Moghadam et al. and Chen et al. both reported that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) could be effective in early recovery from exercise-related muscular injury due to its beneficial effect on cell recovery and tissue repair
- Moghadam et al. suggested this as a possible treatment for sports musculoskeletal injuries as it can enhance oxygen delivery, reduce edema and pathologic inflammation, and mitigate ischemia/reperfusion injury.
- Chen et al. applied HBOT treatment to 41 athletes with exercise-related muscle damage and reported that muscle damage indices like CK, glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT), and myoglobin were significantly decreased.
- Woo et al. concluded HBOT treatment in the recovery phase had a positive impact on relieving the inflammatory response and muscle damage after exercise.
- HBOT remains one of the safest therapies used today.
Sources
- Chen-Yu Chen, Wen-Yi Chou, Jih-Yang Ko, Mel S. Lee, Re-Wen Wu, “Early Recovery of Exercise-Related Muscular Injury by HBOT”, BioMed Research International, vol. 2019, Article ID 6289380, 10 pages,2019. https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6289380
- Kurt B, Kurt Y, Karslioğlu Y, Topal T, Erdamar H, Korkmaz A, Türközkan N, Yaman H, Odabaşi Z, Günhan O. Effects of hyperbaric oxygen on energy production and xanthine oxidase levels in striated muscle tissue of healthy rats. J Clin Neurosci. 2008 Apr;15(4):445-50. doi:
- Woo J, Min JH, Lee YH, Roh HT. Effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Inflammation, Oxidative/Antioxidant Balance, and Muscle Damage after Acute Exercise in Normobaric, Normoxic and Hypobaric, Hypoxic Environments: A Pilot Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Oct 10;17(20):7377. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17207377. PMID: 33050362; PMCID: PMC7601270.
- Moghadam N., Hieda M., Ramey L., Levine B.D., Guilliod R. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Sports Musculoskeletal Injuries. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 2020;52:1420–1426. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002257.
- Heyboer M 3rd, Sharma D, Santiago W, McCulloch N. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Side Effects Defined and Quantified. Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2017 Jun 1;6(6):210-224. doi: 10.1089/wound.2016.0718. PMID: 28616361; PMCID: PMC5467109.
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