[Closed] Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy ? Snake oil ?

No, only what I've read which is that it can see good results for MS patients. Some Lyme disease patients have undergone this, some think it's helped and some don't. I believe they've used an MS centre and had to pay a reasonable charge.

Thanks CG ! I’ve read the assessments, just wondering if anyone has used it for blatantly stupid MTB injuries ? Good or indifferent ?
Met a fella who swears by it, but not convinced

Has the shoulder been reassessed ie another scan or x-ray taken? Did you do what you were told and any physio undertaken? What are your instincts telling you? Are you still in pain?

🙏 yes to all, weekly physio, X-ray yesterday which indicates it is healing, but still proper stiff.

I’m an old fool in my 50s, which obviously doesn’t help 🙂

Good that it's on the mend although slowly. I still get some pain from a shoulder separation some years ago, acupuncture and a lot of soft tissue work did help but reckon that not paying attention to posture/not continuing with exercises contributed to this discomfort.

I'd go for it, you've nothing to lose!

Thank You so much CG for your input and time.
Anyone else ? I’ve got 85% movement in the shoulder but by damn it’s stiff

If it's any consolation I was in my 50's when I had the shoulder separation, some 10 years before that I broke my collarbone on the same side. Just believe that we need to do more to recover whether that be taking glucosamine, cod liver oil or any 'alternative' therapies. When I got back on the bike after the op I really worked on repeatedly riding trails with lots of turns and checking my posture.

Good luck with your recovery!

Ask any motorbike racer that a had serious crash. Hyperbaric chambers are used a lot apparently. Thats not to say there is proof of how successfully they support the various fracture treatments but there is long list of well known riders that have used them.

I used to work in cancer research - on the anaesthetic effect combined with hyperbaric oxygen. That is very much a real effect, not snake oil at all. I didn’t do anything with fractures though..

The diving diseases research centre ( https://www.ddrc.org/) has a section on its website about hyberbaric treatment.  I had a quick look and there was nothing about fractures but might be worth a call to ask them about it.

I don't know how well it works on fractures but it definitely has a positive benefit for my Dad after his stroke.

I've lived and worked in a hyperbaric and high PPo2 environment most of my working life. Typical o2 partial pressures of between 400 mb & 800mb. That's 2 to 4 times what you're getting at sea level. I've also had elective PPo2 therapy to assist with a finger crush injury sustained at work.

The most marked effect for me was that cuts and grazes healed up very quickly whilst in a high PPo2 environment. Minor burns healed quickly too. The bone growth in my injured fingers accelerated noticeably during the 10 treatment cycles I had at the treatment chamber.

Definitely not snake oil IMO and lots of evidence to support this. The trouble is Oxygen therapy isn't widely known about or recognised.

I'm a fan.

Brian Simpson the "motorcycle racer healer" has an HB chamber.  Looks like an awful lot of money on capital plant to shell out for snake oil.

Thanks all, pretty positive, think I may give it a try. Cheers

the higher o2 content promotes coagulation, doesn't it? I thought that was the theory. seems to make sense as blood cells that carry more o2 are generally a sign of good health I believe.

Quick question to Davesport, if I may ? You reckon it will help shoulder recovering ? Any information ? And are you aware of a company called Rose something or other. Thnx

brian Simpson mentioned above is physioclinic.net in norwich. They are very good at all high speed injuries and do lots with motorbike racers, pro cyclists, horse riders etc. I've not had oxygen therapy there but have been after breaks and am convinced the treatment I had (laser and magnets) at an early stage helped a lot (this was compared to a very similar break on the other side that wasn't treated by them). Give them a call to discuss what their options might be.

Quick question to Davesport, if I may ? You reckon it will help shoulder recovering ? Any information ? And are you aware of a company called Rose something or other. Thnx

I'm in no way medically qualified to offer an opinion. My background is commercial saturation diving & I don't know anything about the company you refer to.

The treatment chamber I used was inexpensive to use and run as a charity. Approx £5.00 per treatment. If it were me I'd find your nearest chamber and approach them. You've got nothing to lose. I'ts no miracle cure but it'll improve you oxygen perfusion as you're breathing o2 at 2000mb for an hour.

D.

There are side affects to breathing too high a partial pressure of O2.

I nearly passed out on a decompressiion stop while breathing a high O2 mix which caused my lung Alveoli to swell up thereby reducing thier ability to transport O2 into my blood. I couldnt feel it but started to get tunnel vision and fainting moments.

Once I switched to normal Air I slowly recovered, but it took hours.

Basically you have to spend a long time doing it and then you start to suffer side affects that are not too good. Its a balance.

There has been some research on the subject: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5524741/

In 1899, the Scottish pathologist, James Lorrain Smith, published the pathological effects of increased inspiratory oxygen tension on several small animals (Lorrain Smith, 1899). In these classic experiments, mice and larks were exposed to increasing pressures of oxygen for long periods of time. Besides several episodes of CNS toxicity, most of the animals perished because of hypoxia as a result of insufficient ventilation due to acute or chronic lung inflammation. Compared to CNS toxicity, a lower partial pressure of oxygen is required to cause symptoms, but the exposure time has to be much longer (hours to days). Exposure above 0.5 ATA is regarded as potentially damaging for the pulmonary system. In humans, early symptoms include tracheobronchial irritation with retrosternal pain and coughing (Klein, 1990). Longer exposures damage the tracheal mucosa with impaired mucus clearance (Sackner et al., 1975). These complaints precede changes in lung function tests, such as, a decrease in vital capacity (VC), but have a low predictive value due to high variability (Klein, 1990). The incidence in divers is unknown, since no studies have investigated the epidemiology.

There are side affects to breathing too high a partial pressure of O2.

What's too high? I forget all the sums now, but I seem to recall air at 50M being some sort of cut off (6atm, so 1.2pp of O2)?

I presume any therapy keeps you well away from any of the limits.

physioclinic.net in norwich

That's where my mate went when he broke his back (he's a motorbike racer), when you consider he went down there for multiple appointments the results must be worth it, we live in Manchester!

Brian "The Bone Welder" Simpson is your man, definately not snake oil.
Most of the top end Bike racers have him on speed dial

Once again, thanks to all. I’m in Hong Kong and have found a company here, but at 70 quid a session thought I’d ask first.
I’m going to try it, and I’ll report back later. Cheers all.