Enhancing Recovery and Rehab with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is one of those biohacking solutions many people have heard about but don’t really understand how it works. As a rehab professional with years of experience in professional sports and private practice, I've seen firsthand how the synergistic relationship between HBOT and physical therapy or chiropractic can be quite powerful.

Hi everyone! I’m Dr. Jason Han with HealthFit Physical Therapy & Chiropractic, and in this blog, I’m going to dive into how combining Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy with Physical Therapy or Chiropractic can enhance your recovery and rehab outcomes.

What is HBOT and How Does It Work?

HBOT involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber. This natural yet powerful combination liquifies the oxygen, significantly increasing the amount your blood can carry, promoting healing and reducing inflammation.

So, what do your body’s cells do with this abundance of oxygen? The cells, more specifically the mitochondria, bind the oxygen to create more energy. With this energy, your body can do what it does best during an injury—heal.

In general, having a certain amount of inflammation after an injury is normal. However, when it is excessive, it can hinder the healing process. Chronic inflammation, a common issue for many of our clients, can plague those who are not recovering as quickly as they should.

Another amazing benefit of continued HBOT treatment is angiogenesis, also known as the formation of new blood vessels. When you have more blood vessels reaching the injured site, you can deliver more oxygen to the tissues, akin to having more roads to your final destination.

The Role of Physical Therapy and Chiropractic in Rehab

Physical therapists and chiropractors use a variety of techniques, including manual therapy, exercise, and different modalities to improve mobility, strength, and overall function.

  • Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques help improve the body’s elasticity and mobility, ultimately aiding in better function. This works by bringing more circulation and movement to the areas that need healing and decreasing pain by stimulating different neural pathways in your body.

  • Exercise: Essential for rehab, exercise helps maintain what is achieved through manual techniques by getting you moving, strong, and mobile in the right places.

What Happens During Exercise?

  1. Muscle Activation: Contraction and relaxation of muscles occur as oxygen flows through the bloodstream, activating muscle tissue cells to create energy.

  2. Increased Heart Rate and Blood Flow: Exercise boosts circulation to areas doing the most work, helping to remove carbon dioxide and metabolic waste, such as lactic acid.

  3. Increased Respiration: During exercise, you inhale more oxygen to deliver it to working muscles, while also creating more carbon dioxide that needs to be released.

The Recovery Process After Exercise

  1. Cool Down & Recovery: Heart rate and breathing slow down, but blood flow to the worked-out areas remains high to deliver more oxygen and clear metabolic byproducts.

  2. Muscle Repair & Growth: Exercise causes microtrauma to muscle fibers. The body repairs these tears during recovery, leading to muscle growth, strength, and endurance.

  3. Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS): Soreness experienced 24 to 72 hours after a hard workout is caused by excessive inflammation from muscle damage.

Combining HBOT with Physical Therapy or Chiropractic

Now that you understand what happens during and after exercise, let’s discuss how adding HBOT to your physical therapy or chiropractic treatments can help you reach your goals even faster.

  1. Accelerated Healing: Increased oxygen delivery to damaged tissues improves and speeds up repair.

  2. Reduced Inflammation & Edema: HBOT helps control inflammation, making exercises more effective and less painful.

  3. Stimulation of Angiogenesis: Formation of new blood vessels aids in repair and enhances tissue health.

  4. Improved Pain Management: Reduced pain increases comfort and activity levels, allowing for more progress in rehab.

  5. Enhanced Muscle Function: More oxygen and energy to tissues lead to faster recovery, more strength, and endurance.

  6. Neurological Recovery: Increased oxygen to nerve tissues promotes nerve regeneration, improving neuromuscular control and coordination.

Conclusion

HBOT is an incredible addition to any physical therapy or chiropractic rehab program. By increasing your oxygen concentration up to 600%, we can harness your body’s innate ability to heal from the inside out. When you pair complementary techniques and modalities together, like we do in professional sports, we can get you back to your activities safely and faster than ever before.

If you are interested in finding out how these services may benefit you, make sure to inquire on our website, shoot us a text, or give us a call so we can connect you with our team of experts.

If you found this information useful, please share it with family and friends—it might just make their day a little better. We look forward to helping you achieve your health and recovery goals.