Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT)

See Dr Skaggs Help Veterans Using Hyberbaric Oxygen Therapy on Fox 14 News!

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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) (HBO): Hyperbaric literally means an increase in pressure, so Hyperbaric Medicine is the science of treating and restoring one's health by the means of utilizing an increased pressure of gases, primarily Oxygen. Oxygen is delivered in a pressurized vessel or chamber. The chamber may be a hard side or a flexible chamber. The Oxygen is delivered to the patient via a face mask at 90 to 100% while in the chamber. The increased percentage of Oxygen saturates the red blood cells and the plasma which is the liquid part of the blood. The increased carrying capacity of the red blood cells allows for Oxygen to be transported to the tissues facilitating a higher performance level and healing. This is the concept for treating diabetic wounds that are slow to heal due to poor circulation in the extremities. Poor circulation equals a decreased Oxygen supply. Simply, without Oxygen, the cells can not function and die. This is what happens with diabetics and traumatic head injuries just to mention a few.

Oxygen is the number nutritional requirement for the body. The average person will consume 6 pounds of Oxygen per day & there are over 8100 different processes in the body that require oxygen. The brain is an Oxygen hog, it is only surpassed by the retina as far as it's consumption of Oxygen.

History: The history of hyperbaric medicine as crude as it has been dates back to 1662. However, it is just now that we are capable of researching, understanding, and documenting the positive effects of increased oxygen on the human body. Since the 1930's Hyperbaric Chambers have been utilized to treat Decompression Sickness (the bends). The bends is a potentially fatal problem faced by divers when nitrogen bubbles form in the blood and tissues during emergency accents from depths or when divers don't properly decompress on their accent.

More recently, diabetic wound healing has seen a great deal of success with the use of HBOT, so much so that it is approved by Medicare as well as gangrene infections, carbon monoxide poisoning as well as others.

Off Label Indications: Off label uses are applications of medical devices or procedures in the treatment of the conditions not yet approved by the FDA and therefore are considered to be "Experimental" or "Investigational" in their applications. For many outside of the medical community, the label of "Experimental or Investigational" diminishes the quality or the value of the treatment however, one must understand that by today's standards, all new treatments undergo experimentation and investigational processes prior to receiving approval from the FDA. These processes are lengthy, time consuming and more times than not, expensive. Unfortunately, for the consumer, until Phase II studies are completed, published and reviewed by the medical community, will the FDA approve treatment protocols, then and only then will the insurance companies begin to cover HBOT for other uses. Because what we do is considered, "Experimental or Investigational" insurance will not cover these services.

The following are some of the off label conditions we treat with our Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Chamber:

Are you or do you know a Veteran that has returned from any foreign war that suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury and/or Post traumatic Stress Disorder (TBI/PTSD) while in combat. Please let them know that we are furnishing HBOT for Vets, free of charge with these diagnosis. What we have found is that our Vets are not benefiting from the care they are receiving from the VA and on average 22 Vets a day committing suicide. This must stop! Our Vets deserve better.

Our HBO Chambers is a soft sided Chambers and goes to 1.3 ATA (the pressure equal to 12 feet below the surface of seawater). The adverse side effects at that pressure are virtually unheard of, giving our chamber an advantage over higher pressure chambers, especially when treating children. In HBO therapy, we have learned that, "less is more and more is less." In other words, more benefits are realized at less depths or pressure than those at greater pressures.

There are over 30,000 research papers that have been written on the positive effects of HBOT. Research on HBOT and treatment of the above disease process are widely available on the internet or clinical studies are available at Pubmed.com. I have placed on the links page of this website some of the best research sites to different disease processes. We encourage you to do your homework and read the research.

So, why isn't HBOT more widely used and available? Because you can not patent oxygen and market it. You can patent drugs, market them and make millions, but you can't patent oxygen. Yes, you have it right, the medical field is controlled by the drug companies. This coupled with the fact that only 14% of the medical schools in the U.S. have access to hyperbaric oxygen chambers, therefore hyperbaric therapy is not part of the curriculum in all medical schools. I have heard it once stated that, "Hyperbaric medicine is new and controversial" and we live "in an age that has the habit of treating progress with suspicion." It is also generally accepted in the medical community that once a patient has trauma to the brain it is irreversible in other words, "What you see is what you get." We are finding out that that simply is not true!

We have had such success treating our son Kayle, that had an anoxic brain injury in 2010 that we have decide to make our chamber open to the public. What we have found is that different disease processes have different treatment protocols and each disease process responds at different rates. The amount of recovery time is usually determined by the length of time the patient has had the disease process. And we are currently finding out that 10 years for a TBI is not too long to gain improvement.

Recent studies demonstrate that the use of HBOT while undergoing chemo or radiotherapy for cancer treatment, that the side effects of the chemo and radiotherapy are drastically reduced and the efficiency of the chemotherapy is increased.Our patient's do not loose their hair and tolerate the chemo therapy better. And when HBOT is in cooperated with the Keto diet, well you do the research.

At Skaggs Chiropractic, we take a great pride in being on the cutting-edge of research and being a leader in alternative healthcare. We recommend reading, The Oxygen Revolution by Dr. Paul Harch, M.D.. Dr. Harch is the leading researcher and a pioneer in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. We invite you to tour our new facility and learn more about our chambers. Research and documentation about treatments are available upon request. There are also videos of Dr.Harch on youtube.com with patient outcomes that are outstanding.

Disclaimer: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for indications other than the UHMS approved indications is considered to be "Off Label". The content and information provide on this page is for informational and educational purposes only and is not meant to be used as medical advise. Please consult with a physician before attempting or securing any form of medical treatment, including HBOT.