Does Hyperbaric Oxygen Help Exercise Ability?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM
Heavyweight boxing champion Shannon Briggs was in the Black Athlete Sport Network news for getting sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. According to the news, Briggs stated he believed the treatments would help him improve physically and get in better shape for his upcoming fight to undefeated heavyweight Sultan Ibragimov. What is hyperbaric oxygen treatment and what is the basis for use?
"Hyper" means more or above. "Baro-" comes from a Greek word meaning weight or pressure. Some words that use this word root are barometer, an instrument measuring atmospheric pressure, and bariatrician, which is a physician who manages obesity. In general, hyperbaric oxygen treatment consists of breathing 100% oxygen while inside a dry treatment chamber that is pumped to a pressure higher than you are breathing now.
Hyperbaric oxygen treatment is used to treat two kinds of scuba diving accidents - decompression sickness and air embolism, which can result from rapid pressure reduction if you come up too fast. Hyperbaric treatment has also been found effective for treating wounds that do not heal because they do not have enough oxygen, certain infections of problem wounds, diabetic ulcers, and other conditions to be covered in future posts.
Hyperbaric oxygen is a documented modality in treating problem wounds which have a poor blood supply (are hypoxic). Bringing additional oxygen to the deprived area makes the body better able to repair itself. There is no current evidence that hyperbaric oxygen speeds healing of normal injuries, sore muscles, or that it improves physical ability. In sports injuries there is no lack of oxygen. Often the opposite problem occurs. For example, an area that is hot and swollen may have plenty of oxygen and blood supply. Adding more oxygen would not make it heal faster. There are occasional debates about using treatment chambers for athletes. As evidence becomes available, I will add it here. There is heated debate whether hyperbaric treatment is applicable to conditions such as vascular headache, brain injury, neurologic conditions, and others.
For a sick patient with problem wounds, diving injuries, carbon monoxide poisoning, or gangrene, hyperbaric treatment can be life and limb saving. Regarding athletes who believe it will make them a better athlete, and feel they should use hyperbarics regardless of hard evidence, there are minor side effects to hyperbaric treatments. Without the ability to heal regular muscle soreness or improve athletic performance, the side effects would not be helpful, and could be potentially detrimental to the athlete.
See books about hyperbaric chamber treatment, and becoming credentialed on my web site books page, www.DrBookspan.com/books.
Labels: fix pain, hyperbaric, injury, martial arts, performance enhancing modality, scuba
4 Comments:
At Tuesday, May 08, 2007 4:50:00 PM,
Anonymous said…
The reason hyperbaric oxygen helps to heal is not because it is merely supplying additional oxygen at a cellular level, rather because it vaso constricts and reduces the swelling that accompanies injury. It allows healing to begin by resolving the inflammation issue, much like ibuprophen and aspirin.
At Tuesday, May 08, 2007 10:20:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Increased oxygen reduces edema through vasoconstriction, which further promotes oxygenation. However, this does not seem to be an anti-inflammatory mechanism and is different from the mechanisms of anti-inflammatory drugs.
Hyperbaric oxygen does many good things that I did not have room in the post to list.
Increased oxygen tensions in hypoxic tissues allow healing and help prevent spread of infection and damage to adjacent non-involved tissue, decreasing complication rates and cost of management. However, normal wounds are not hypoxic. Additional oxygen levels do not speed healing.
Increased oxygen tension in hypoxic tissue promotes collagen production by fibroblasts and capillary angiogenesis, promoting healing in hypoxic tissue. Again, it seems this is only in hypoxic tissue.
Increased oxygen at the cellular level increases leukocyte bactericidal activity. Improved oxygenation improves PMN function and bacterial clearance. This is an important use of hyperbaric oxygen treatment in problem infected wounds. With the normal oxygen level in regular injuries, you do not increase antibacterial action.
There are more benefits that I hope to cover soon. I have been a long time researcher of diving and hyperbaric medicine. I support it and plan more posts to educate that it is a tested modality, not an alternative or fringe element. Two helpful books on hyperbaric medicine are on my web site books page.
At Tuesday, May 08, 2007 10:24:00 PM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
here is a working link (I hope) for the above link to the hyperbaric medicine books on my web site books page.
At Saturday, May 12, 2007 1:31:00 AM,
Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM said…
Another thought on the pathway of hyperbaric anti-inflammatory action is that it works through reduction in white cell adhesion (different from how ibuprofen works to inhibit COX-1 and COX-2, but since it's not sure exactly how agents like aspirin work, who knows, right?). This effect is also not from vasoconstriction and is thought to be more important in reperfusion injury than wound healing. It's all really interesting (to me, anyway).
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