Notes on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
There are different types and sizes of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) chambers, different construction and different operating pressures and breathing arrangements. At The Health Hub, we have a single occupancy soft walled chamber operating at 1.3 atmospheres (ATS). A session lasts approximately 1 hour and 25 mins, during which the user is breathing elevated levels of oxygen under increased pressure, similar to being immersed in 10 ft (3.1m) of water. The chamber is pressurised with ambient air while the seated user has a vented mask supplying a high concentration of oxygen. Although the user’s mask is supplied with 95% pure oxygen the mask itself has additional vents which draw in surrounding air so, in effect, the user may be breathing only 30-45% concentration of oxygen. This makes a soft wall chamber extremely safe.
(Ambient air is made up of 21% oxygen and 79% Nitrogen).
The extra pressure encourages better transfer of oxygen into the blood stream raising the blood oxygen level to as much as 99% in red blood cells as measured on a finger monitor. Although the red blood cells are the main carrier of oxygen, they are carried along by the much thinner blood plasma which typically has only 3% oxygen. With the increased pressure and elevated oxygen, the plasma oxygen levels can be increased by 10x or up to 35%. Red blood cells (RBC’s) are relatively large whereas plasma is a much thinner liquid. Importantly, plasma can reach every cell in the body including the endothelial lining of blood vessels thus bringing energy and healing to some hard-to-reach places, including the brain. This is why HBOT is so useful for people suffering from neural issues (e.g. stroke) or other chronic symptoms where healing has been slow or completely stalled.
Oxygen is used by every cell in the body, without it we would die within a few minutes. It allows our mitochondria to burn glucose in our cells (Metabolism/KREB cycle) to produce ATP – the ultimate fuel of the body. Oxygen is essential for healing and tissue repair. Oxygen is essential to keep our organs working, especially the brain, the heart and the liver which uses large amounts of oxygen for detoxing our bodies. Pathogens generally dislike oxygen rich environments. Oxygen dissolved in the blood makes the blood slightly alkaline which helps neutralise increases in lactic acid produced by cancer cells.
Most conditions requiring HBOT will take multiple sessions to bring about symptomatic relief (e.g. 10-40 sessions). This can be expensive and time-consuming. People who are low in oxygen (hypoxic) often feel an improvement in energy and mental clarity after an HBOT session. For people with mobility constraints, who are more likely to be hypoxic as they cannot exercise, HBOT is the obvious solution. Some conditions result in poor circulation, thankfully HBOT can help drive oxygen to the extremities.
Contraindications
- Some people are claustrophobic in a confined space.
- People who have difficulty ‘clearing’ their ears (e.g. pressure changes during a flight)
- People with breathing difficulties (asthma or COPD)
Oxygen is a vasoconstrictor which, counter intuitively, might be a problem for people with breathing difficulties. Conversely, Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a vasodilator. In an HBOT environment movement is very small and so only low levels of CO2 are present. Compare this with Exercise with Oxygen Therapy (EWOT) an alternative for those with some mobility where there is an abundance of CO2 produced and is automatically balanced with oxygen levels by the brain.
Notes
Atmospheric pressure is created by the weight of the atmosphere above us. Imagine an inch square column of air going up some 10 miles (16km), and the pressure at the bottom it creates which is 15lbs /sq inch (6.8Kilos/2.5cm.sq). This is called 1 atmosphere (1 ATS).
The HBOT chamber works at 1.3 ATS effectively adding a further 5lbs of pressure inside the chamber. Using a chamber is often referred to as a ‘dive’ because divers experience an increase in pressure proportional to the depth of the dive. As water is so much heavier than air it only takes a column of water 30ft high (or depth of water) to increase pressure by 1 ATS. So, an HBOT operating at 1.3 ATS is similar pressure to diving to 3m in water.
