Amazing Benefits Of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy For Athletes

Becoming more and more popular in the sports world, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has become a treatment that athletes across ranks utilize to speed up recovery time and enhance their performance.

Approved by the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), this healing treatment can increase the benefits of oxygen on the body by increasing the volume of oxygen that enters the blood stream.

From a medical standpoint, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is one of the best tools to treat a variety of diseases and injuries. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can treat tissue damage caused by radiation, non-healing diabetic wounds and other medical conditions. It’s no wonder athletes are seeing the benefits of applying oxygen-rich healing therapy to their sports-related injuries and even going beyond just using it for injuries.

How Does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Benefit Athletes?

When an athlete enters one of the pressurized hyperbaric chambers, like the ones at NexGen Hyperbaric, they are breathing in 100% medical grade oxygen, raising the oxygen levels of blood plasma and hemoglobin by up to 25 times. This causes red blood cells to become more malleable, enhancing their ability to reach restricted blood vessels, allowing cells and tissue to receive the oxygen needed for regeneration and healing.

Athletes can recover at faster rates from an intense work out or increase their performance due to elevated oxygen levels. During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the body is also flushing lactic acid, which causes muscle fatigue.

1. General Recovery

From soft tissue injuries to concussions and fractures, gone are the days when recovering from an athletic injury required mostly rest. However, these strategies are never a good idea for athletes interested in optimizing their performance. A general recovery approach, including treatments like hyperbaric oxygen therapy, is much more effective.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy can help speed up healing and recovery times so much that you can think of it as pressing a fast forward button on recovery. There are many benefits for athletes that HBOT provides using high levels of oxygen permeating tissues.

2. Healing & Treating Injuries

From professionals to hobbyists, athletes cannot escape injuries, no matter how minor or major. It’s all just part of the game. Instances of possible injury include:

• Injuries incurred during contact sports.
• Joint stress caused while running.
• Tendon pain while engaging in sports like rock climbing.

Previously, athletes were told to rest in the face of an injury, regardless of its impact on their performance or the unique demands of the injury. However, with technological advances available to athletes, like hyperbaric oxygen therapy, they are able to take a more engaged role in the healing process.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps injured tissue absorb a highly concentrated amount of medical grade oxygen. A single 60–90-minute hyperbaric oxygen therapy session can significantly oxygenate an athlete’s blood, plasma and brain fluids, increasing circulation and healing where needed. Additional benefits include:

• Bone or cartilage regeneration
• Increased stem cell activation
• Reduced muscle fatigue
• Growth of productive cells in connective tissue
• Enhanced collagen production
• Reduces swelling in tissue and bone
• Enhances white blood cell function to fight infection

3. Boosting Performance

Some athletes exercise at higher elevations to improve endurance by boosting red blood cell formation and the blood’s oxygen capacity. They do this in the hope that it will give them an edge against competitors who do not. Many athletes are now turning to hyperbaric oxygen therapy to increase their circulation and blood oxygenation to see similar benefits.

4. Increasing Mental Focus

Any athlete can tell you that competing takes more than just physical strength and skill. Stamina, mental clarity and focus are what drives athletes to perform at their very best. HBOT helps improve mental focus and clear brain fog so athletes can enter the game with laser-sharp focus.

5. Concussion and TBI Treatment

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) positively affects athletes dealing with concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBI). HBOT works by increasing the oxygen concentration in the body, which enhances delivery to all tissues and organs. Doing this helps those injured athletes to heal faster, reduce inflammation, improve blood circulation, and reduce oxidative stress.

An Athlete’s View on Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

As an eight-time national champion, American World Cup competitor and Olympian, alpine ski racer Nina O’Brien constantly works to improve her strength and endurance. HBOT allows Nina to recover more quickly to get the most out of her training, and she’s also noticed a significant improvement in her mental health.

“As athletes, we’re fighting for that extra piece and edge, and that’s where the mental game and the mental training come in so you can perform at your best. And what’s cool is that HBOT plays a huge role in helping me increase my focus and concentration and maximize my biggest performance moments.” -Nina O’Brien.

Find Out More by Contacting Us Today

As a premier provider of evidence-based hyperbaric oxygen therapy, NexGen Hyperbaric has received recognition from the sports world for offering proven adjunct treatment modality for many conditions, taking the advanced potential of HBOT beyond hospitals and wound care units.

Since 2004, NexGen Hyperbaric has operated two successful business units, providing outpatient care in standalone clinics, and the Center for Wound Healing, delivering hospital-based care in on-site clinics.

In addition to serving a wide range of athletes as a leading provider of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, we are also actively supporting elite endurance athletes, coaches and trainers in our home base in Colorado.

NexGen Hyperbaric is the official Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Services provider for the Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek. We are honored to play a small part in helping elite athletes return more quickly to peak mental and physical performance.

If you’d like to learn more about hyperbaric oxygen therapy and how it can impact the performance of your team or more info about the chambers used for the oxygen treatment, feel free to contact NexGen Hyperbaric.