Hyperbaric Therapy

Mild hyperbarics has two main avenues with which athletes could dramatically benefit from:

1. Enhanced recovery time from intense training, thus helping to prevent chronic overtraining injuries
2. Faster recovery from acute injuries, leading to a quicker return back to a full training load

During HBOT treatment, a patient breathes 95% to 100% oxygen at pressures above 1.0 atmosphere absolute (ATA). Normally, 97% of the oxygen delivered to body tissues is bound to hemoglobin, while only 3% is dissolved in the plasma. The combination of increased pressure (3 ATA) and increased oxygen concentration (100%) dissolves enough oxygen in the plasma alone to sustain life in a resting state. Under hyperbaric conditions, oxygen content in the plasma is increased from 0.3 to 6.6 mL per 100 mL of blood with no change in oxygen transport via hemoglobin. HBOT at 3.0 ATA increases oxygen delivery to the tissues from 20.0 to 26.7 mL of O₂ per 100 mL of blood.

Proposed Healing Mechanisms

Increased oxygen delivery to the tissues is believed to facilitate healing through a number of mechanisms:

• Vasoconstriction
• Neovascularisation and epithelialisation
• Stimulation of Fibroblasts and osteoclasts
• mmune Response
• Maintaining High-Energy Phosphate Bonds