The benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy for athletes

The human body is perfectly built to heal itself naturally. This can be seen with the naked eye, when from an early age, children are healed from bruises, sprains and even fractured bones. Sometimes a little help is needed, and in this category we can include hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
How hyperbaric oxygen therapy works
Oxygen is the most abundant element on earth, and when used in high purity at high pressure, it’s an effective method to improve the body’s ability to heal. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves inhaling oxygen under conditions of high pressure, being a non-invasive method with countless benefits.
The way oxygen therapy works is quite simple to explain: in a specialized chamber, called a hyperbaric chamber, the pressure is increased by up to 2 times compared to the normal pressure. The person sitting inside this room receives a mask that he connects to his face and with which he inhales high purity oxygen. With the help of this therapy, the oxygen concentration of the body can increase by up to 1200%, which favors the increase of the blood flow, the decrease of the inflammations and the regeneration of the tissues.
Why athletes use hyperbaric oxygen
You’ve probably noticed when you look at sports competitions, how some athletes take advantage of any break during the match to go to the edge of the field and breathe oxygen from a tube. It is the best indication of the benefits of oxygen intake for the human body.
Whether it’s basketball, football, tennis or American football, athletes are increasingly having oxygen available on the field. They use this method to breathe easier or to improve their performance.
During sustained exertion, breathing begins to become more difficult and for this reason inhaled oxygen is less. General symptoms of hypoxia include dizziness, fainting and difficulty breathing. In the long run, these symptoms can lead to major disorders of the body, including sleep disturbances and chronic fatigue. Even high-performance athletes are not exempt from these unpleasant effects of extreme and long-lasting effort. No matter how much and how well they train, there comes a time when the forces seem to leave them and they can no longer perform. This is the moment when the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy could be observed, both in reducing fatigue, but also in recovering muscles, reducing inflammation or recovering from complicated injuries.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a high-performance athlete or an amateur, the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy apply to everyone. Also, there are no age restrictions for adults or if we are talking about men or women. High purity oxygen has a positive effect on the quality of life in general.
Baric oxygen recovery programs, performed by athletes between important competitions, have the role of feeding their body with up to 95% pure oxygen, which is strongly inhaled into the lungs. The effect is a better circulation of blood flow and hemoglobin, which transports oxygen even to the most distant cells. This avoids both concussions and other fairly common injuries, such as rupture of the anterior cruciate ligaments of the knee or the appearance of “swimmer’s shoulder” symptoms. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy will also shorten the healing time after injuries, as it supports the body’s potential to carry out self-healing programs.
Many athletes who suffer frequent or very serious injuries forget what it is like to feel normal. With the help of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, they benefit from the reduced inflammation in the body and heal faster, returning quickly to the field in a top shape.
Famous athletes who have resorted to hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Professional athletes are a real value for investors of the clubs to which they are entitled. For this reason, they are provided with the latest equipment and technologies to help them perform and avoid injuries. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, even though it has been used for several decades as a complementary treatment for many serious ailments, has been adopted quite recently in sports training and recovery. Very quickly, important benefits were seen, related to the elimination of joint pain, faster recovery from injuries and even concussions.
Joe Namath is a former football player who played for the New York Jets for most of his NFL career. Over time, he was hit in the head many times and the negative effects did not take long to appear: concentration problems, memory loss, feelings of anxiety. Joe Namath has now recovered almost completely after successfully resorting to hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Because he wants to help other athletes enjoy the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen, Namath has become a true promoter of this therapy.
ESPN reported in 2004 on the recovery plan of Terrel Owens, a currently retired NFL player. Owens had a spectacular return to the field in the same season, after breaking his leg and a ligament in his ankle. The secret that Owens relied on to return to Super Bowl XXXIX is hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which greatly reduced the recovery time he needed after this serious injury.
Another example is Bill Romanowski, another American football legend currently retired. In the 16 years he played in the NFL, Romanowski suffered more than 20 serious contusions, which severely affected his health. After trying hyperbaric oxygen therapy, Romanowski said he experienced many positive results, which improved his general condition.
The main benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy
When oxygen therapy is used as a complementary method, there is a significant decrease in the time required for recovery from a muscle injury. Hyperbaric oxygen helps to dramatically reduce inflammation and improve vascular flow. All injuries related to the practice of performance sports have benefited from the supply of pure oxygen, which helps to regenerate bones and cartilage, while slowing down the formation of scars.
Inhaling a high dose of pure oxygen increases the amount of oxygen carried by the blood. In this way, oxygen molecules dissolve deeper and faster in the body’s tissues, including the cerebrospinal fluid around the brain and spinal cord. The effect is to eliminate hypoxia and prevent the risk of tissue death. Especially in the case of complicated surgeries, patients may experience this condition due to the loss of a significant amount of blood. Hyperbaric oxygen will stimulate the body’s self-healing process, by increasing new blood vessels and, implicitly, by increasing the subsequent blood circulation. This effect that leads to tissue healing is maintained for a long time, even after the completion of all sessions of the hyperbaric oxygen recovery program.
With the help of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the level of stem cells increases up to 8 times. These cells are already present in the human body, having the property of differentiating themselves from any other type of cell. Their main role is to regenerate and heal organs and tissues.
In addition, hyperbaric oxygen therapy has a strong antibacterial effect, helping to improve the immune system that fights infections. The supply of pure oxygen supports the increase of the antioxidant level in the body and this means a better resistance in the fight against the pathogens that cause diseases and infections. Last but not least, hyperbaric oxygen improves the effect of antibiotics, helping them to be distributed more quickly in the body’s bloodstream.
More information on the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen can be found at OxyHELP INDUSTRY website.