Hyperbaric oxygen therapy and its effect on sports pre-rehabilitation and rehabiliation

Abstract:

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is increasingly gaining more acceptance as an adjuvant therapy for many diagnoses with hypoxia/ischemia basis in their pathophysiology and has recently been investigated and used in the rehabilitation of sports injuries. Aside from acute improvement by hyperoxygenation, the emphasis is on the possibility of long-term effects by fibroblast activation, growth factor secretion and subsequently angiogenesis. With the correct dosage, HBOT can be used as a non-invasive therapeutic treatment with a small risk of possible side effects. HBOT may improve wound and/or fracture healing and speed recovery and rehabilitation period. Randomized, double-blind studies on a sufficiently large sample sizes could make HBOT more common in day-to-day rehabilitation and potentially prerehabilitation in athletes.

Key words:
hyperbaric oxygen therapy; rehabilitation; sports injuries