How to Fix Your Back Pain ASAP with Physical Therapy and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)

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If you are sick and tired of back pain and looking for an effective way to find relief, you’ve come to the right place. In this blog, I'm going to explain how the combination of Physical Therapy and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can help you alleviate back pain and improve your overall quality of life.

Hi, I'm Dr. Jason Han, CEO & Co-Founder of HealthFit Physical Therapy & Chiropractic. With years of experience helping people recover from back pain, I've seen how powerful the combination of physical therapy and HBOT can be.

Why Back Pain is Common and Challenging

Back pain is a very common issue that affects people of all ages and lifestyles. It can result from poor posture, sleeping wrong, bending in a weird way, or even stress. This type of pain can be particularly challenging to deal with because it impacts your ability to perform everyday activities, from sitting and standing to lifting and walking. When your back is hurting, it’s debilitating to realize how much you can't do.

A slow recovery can be frustrating and keep you from enjoying life to the fullest. That's why it's important to find effective ways to relieve back pain and prevent future issues.

What is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

So let’s start by asking the question: what exactly is HBOT? Let's keep it simple. HBOT involves breathing in enhanced levels of oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. This unique and natural combination helps your body absorb more oxygen, which promotes healing and boosts overall health. At HealthFit, we have state-of-the-art hyperbaric chambers to help our clients increase their oxygen concentration levels by over 400%, which results in them feeling better and recovering faster.

The Role of Physical Therapy in Back Pain Relief

Assessment and Diagnosis

A specialist physical therapist will assess your back injury to determine its severity and develop a personalized treatment plan. A proper evaluation not only looks at the back itself but all the contributing factors that may have led to your pain in the first place.

Important questions to consider include:

  1. What past injuries have you had? One of the biggest predictors of an injury is a past injury. Many clients report that their back pain used to go away with rest but now lingers longer. Others mention a history of injuries in different areas such as the ankle, knee, or hip. If you've never fully healed from these past ailments, you may have underlying compensations contributing to your current back pain.

  2. What is your posture at work or while working out? Poor static postures or faulty exercise techniques can lead to abnormal pressures or wear and tear on your back. Your back pain is unique to you and should be treated as such.

The personalized rehab plan may include exercises to improve flexibility, mobility, strength, and range of motion not only in your back but also in surrounding areas.

Hands-on Therapy

Techniques such as manual therapy, joint mobilization, and stretching can help reduce pain and improve mobility. These methods promote healing, enhance muscle tissue pliability, create fluid joint motion, reduce scar tissue formation, and even prevent re-injury. Often, we see segments of the spine that move too much or too little. Hands-on techniques can help bring balance back to these joints.

Proper rehab is about facilitating your body's confidence to move again. After an injury, there's often hesitancy because you're scared of causing more pain or damage. Think about how many times you've held your breath while getting up from a chair or bending forward to pick something up. This is a protection mechanism that can become your new norm if not trained correctly.

Exercise and Rehabilitation

A key component of physical therapy is a structured exercise program tailored to your specific needs.

  • Strengthening and Stabilizing the Core: Exercises are designed to strengthen and stabilize the core region. A graded progression is key to avoid re-injury. We start with breathing and isometric exercises and progress to more active exercises with longer holds in various positions.

  • Targeting Underlying Causes: Exercises aim to address the root causes of your back pain. Often, there are associated mobility deficits in the mid-upper back and lack of mobility and strength in the hip region. Improving these components comprehensively can advance your improvement to feeling great.

How HBOT Enhances Physical Therapy for Back Pain

Now, let's talk about how HBOT works in your body to enhance the effects of physical therapy for back pain. When you breathe pure oxygen in the chamber, it helps your blood carry more oxygen to your tissues.

Reducing Inflammation

HBOT helps reduce inflammation in your back. Less inflammation means less pain and faster healing. By reducing swelling and inflammation, HBOT allows your physical therapy sessions to be more effective as your muscles and tissues are in a better state to respond to treatment. Excessive inflammation around muscles makes it harder for them to contract and get stronger.

Promoting Tissue Repair

The extra oxygen from HBOT promotes faster tissue repair and regeneration. Enhanced oxygen delivery supports the body's natural healing processes, making your recovery more efficient and complete.

Boosting Energy Levels

With more oxygen, your cells produce more energy. This increased energy can help you stay active and perform your physical therapy exercises more effectively. Imagine having more energy to engage in daily activities and exercises. This boost in energy can make a significant difference in your recovery.

Improving Overall Recovery

The combination of physical therapy and HBOT addresses both the physical and cellular aspects of healing. This comprehensive approach ensures a more complete and faster recovery. By working together, these therapies provide a synergistic effect that maximizes the benefits of each, leading to quicker and more robust healing.

Benefits of Combining Physical Therapy and HBOT

Combining physical therapy with HBOT offers several benefits for back pain relief:

  • Faster Healing: The combined approach helps you heal faster and get back to your normal activities sooner.

  • Better Outcomes: You’re likely to experience less pain and better overall function as your back heals more completely.

  • Reduced Risk of Re-Injury: Strengthening and rehabbing your back with physical therapy, along with the enhanced healing effects of HBOT, reduces the risk of future injuries.

  • Enhanced Well-Being: This comprehensive approach not only helps your back heal but also improves your overall health and well-being.

Conclusion

At HealthFit, we're here to help you feel your best. If you're struggling with back pain and looking for an effective way to find relief, consider combining physical therapy with HBOT.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. If you have any questions or would like to schedule an initial evaluation, please visit our website or give us a call. Your recovery and overall health are important to us. We look forward to helping you achieve a faster and more effective recovery with the combination of physical therapy and HBOT.

Remember, you deserve to live without the fear of back pain and enjoy your life to the fullest. We hope to see you soon!