Can Oxygen Therapy Get You Back In The Game? HBOT For Sports Injuries
Read Time: 8 minutes The recovery for sports injuries can be a frustrating process. Oxygen therapy, or HBOT may be able to improve the injury’s healing process.
The Unfortunate Side Effect Of Sports
From afternoon pick-up games to multimillionaire athletes, sports are a popular part of society. With high contact sports comes the risk of injury. Over 8 million sports injuries happen yearly, including in teen athletes. Serious injuries keep many on the sidelines. This costs athletes physically, emotionally, and financially. Sports organizations and athletes alike pay sharp attention to recovery. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has come to the forefront as an effective method to speed up healing.
Recovering with HBOT
Oxygen therapy is the use of pure oxygen to help the body’s natural ability to heal. Also known as hyperbaric, or HBOT, oxygen therapy has been around for decades with fantastic success. The body uses about 20% of oxygen for survival. When a serious injury happens, oxygen is needed for healing. By using a pressurized chamber or room, injured persons can breathe 100% pure oxygen.
How does oxygen therapy work?
The pure oxygen goes right to the blood cells, plasma, and tissues. This accelerates new blood vessel growth, tissue restoration, and healing. Oxygen therapy sessions are incredibly useful for serious crush injuries, diabetic ulcers, burns, and radiation injuries. While this works well for significant injuries, oxygen therapy can be equally effective on a range of sports injuries.
Connecting oxygen and sports
Sports injuries cause tears and breaks of bones, tissues, or ligaments. This means less oxygen at the injury site due to damaged blood vessels, bones, and muscles. To help with healing, the body will siphon off oxygen from other vital functions to send to the injury. Both the injury site and healthy tissues have to work on reduced oxygen. Through oxygen therapy, the injury gets the extra oxygen needed to reduce inflammation and speed up healing. Athletes have leveraged this to help with serious injuries.
Sore no more
High-performance athletes, in particular, see the importance of oxygen therapy beyond serious injury. These athletes know injury exists after every game. High contact sports cause muscle soreness. This soreness, called DOMS, is microscopic tears to muscle. To perform again, athletes need to recover quickly. While ice baths are effective, oxygen sessions after each game can help. Research suggests oxygen therapy reduces muscle soreness by as much as 55%.
A clash of heads
Concussions are a silent but very dangerous head injury affecting up to 3 million athletes. If left untreated, concussions cause long-term damage, even after retirement. A blow to the head damages blood vessels and the firing of neurons. Concussions take up to 2 weeks for a full recovery. Coming back too soon, without the right treatment, increases the chances of another injury. This can also cause a loss of some cognitive function. Athletes undergoing several HBOT sessions show an 80% improvement in recovery from severe concussions.
Try hyperbaric therapy today
HBOT can get athletes back on the field in no time. From breaks and tendon tears to simple soreness, getting pure oxygen can reduce recovery time. Several high profile sports teams have invested in hyperbaric chambers. Even world-famous athletes have hyperbaric chambers at home. Athletes struggling to heal or looking to optimize recovery should speak with a doctor or hyperbaric clinic.