A Hidden Gem for Healing

by CHASE EDWARDS

What if you were told there was one treatment that helps the healing of almost every injury and illness? Too good to be true? Not anymore. Meet hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Used since the 1940s to treat scuba divers for decompression sickness, HBOT has been found to promote healing for those with burns, strokes, headaches, athletic injuries, even Alzheimer’s.

What sounds almost incomprehensible is actually as simple as oxygen: HBOT heals by carrying O2 to the parts of the body that need it the most. Oxygen is vital in numerous biological processes including cell proliferation, angiogenesis and protein synthesis, which are required for restoration of tissue function and integrity.

“Oxygen helps everybody,” says Dr. Tony Aboudib, who regularly treats people using HBOT at his practice, the Michigan Health & Wellness Center in Traverse City. In the seven years since Aboudib has used HBOT he’s seen astounding results, from the post-stroke patient whose numbness went away after only a few sessions, allowing him to walk without a cane, to the Covid-19 long-hauler who found relief from both pain and fatigue.

Aboudib describes HBOT as a supplemental treatment. “Patients typically use it in conjunction with other treatments and therapies,” he says. For example, a cancer patient would use HBOT along with chemo and radiation to enhance the effectiveness of those treatments.

During therapy sessions, patients are placed in a pressurized chamber where oxygen is compressed, and the increased air pressure in the chamber helps the lungs collect more oxygen. Oxygen is then carried in the person’s plasma to red blood cells. The pressure in the chamber stimulates blood flow and increases the circulation of oxygen throughout the body.

For patients with burns and soft tissue wounds, this increase in oxygen decreases swelling caused damaged blood vessels. The increase in oxygen to the burn area also decreases pain while promoting the healing of the injury. Dr. Aboudib worked with one burn patient who saw a decrease in burn size after every visit.

HBOT works wonders for athletic injuries in much the same way, and it also enhances recovery so athletes can get back to training more quickly.

The healing process is similar for patients suffering from traumatic brain injuries, headaches and strokes where an increase in oxygen is carried to the brain, and healing is promoted. For one patient with trigeminal neuralgia and severe facial pain, the pain was reduced 50 percent after the first visit. This same patient also had swelling in his feet, and after two or three visits the swelling in his ankles was gone.

Additionally, HBOT boosts the immune system by increasing both the quantity and quality of white blood cells while increasing blood flow, which helps detoxify the body. And because it also increases collagen production, patients not only feel better but look better, too.

At Michigan Health and Wellness, the number of HBOT sessions prescribed depends on your personalized treatment plan. Most cancer patients will receive 40 sessions, whereas a typical stroke patient or a patient with a brain injury may receive 30 sessions. Sessions last from an hour to 90 minutes.

To prepare for treatment, clients are asked to wear comfortable cotton clothes and to take off shoes and empty their pockets. Once the door is closed, oxygen begins flowing through the chamber. The level of compression is adjusted according to the patient’s treatment plan and the ailment being treated. Patients can then relax inside the pressurized chamber by reading, watching videos or napping.

“It feels like being in an airplane,” Aboudib says. “You feel a little pressure in your ears and then it equalizes.”