If you’re an ardent baseball fan, you must know Joe Musgrove. He is a famous American baseball pitcher playing for the well-known MLB’s San Diego Padres team. Professional baseball players must undergo extensive training and workouts to keep them fit, which can often lead to unwanted accidents. Joe Musgrove experienced something similar while working out.
He accidentally dropped a 35-pound kettlebell on one of his toes, leading to a severe bone fracture and a deep wound. While he took traditional treatment to heal this wound, it wasn’t enough to fix the excruciating pain. It is when HBOT treatment came into the picture. He started taking hyperbaric chamber therapy to speed up the healing process, so he can resume playing in the upcoming matches.
This is a special, non-invasive treatment involving inhaling additional oxygen under a higher-than-normal atmospheric environment pressure. It makes it easier for the lungs to absorb oxygen and carry oxygen-rich cells to different body parts for cell rejuvenation and healing. Joe Musgrove is taking two-hour HBOT sessions to heal his bone fracture faster. If you’re wondering how HBOT can help heal bone fractures, read along.
HBOT: What Is It & How Does It Help?
For the uninitiated, hyperbaric chamber therapy is a safe, effective, and non-invasive treatment method that helps treat numerous health conditions. It was earlier used to treat decompression sickness, but its effectiveness made it a popular treatment option for other health conditions as well.
During the treatment, patients are given higher oxygen so their bodies can carry oxygen-rich cells to different areas, especially areas where a wound or other health problem has developed. HBOT also helps heal bone fractures by supplying the oxygen cells needed to recover naturally. The treatment assists in healing bone fractures in the following ways.
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Reduces Swelling
People with bone fractures also experience swelling in and around the affected area. Swelling is a common symptom of bone fractures characterized by extreme discomfort and pain. HBOT helps reduce swelling by improving the blood flow to the wounded area.
Increased blood flow helps in removing excessive fluid stored around the fractured bone area, helping in speeding the healing process. The therapy also helps lower cytokines, the pro-inflammatory molecules, eventually assisting in lowering pain and discomfort while promoting faster recovery.
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Promoting Anti-Bacterial Activity
Infections can develop at bone fracture sites that worsen the fracture condition and delay healing. HBOT can help increase anti-bacterial activities within the body, preventing any development of infections. When you take hyperbaric chamber therapy, the treatment enhances the oxygen concentration in body cells and tissues. Excessive oxygen in cells can destroy bacteria, leading to faster healing. The therapy can also help stimulate and strengthen the immune system, helping your body fight infections.
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Increasing Oxygen Delivery
HBOT helps heal bone fractures faster by supplying increased oxygen to the affected body area. Bones always need oxygen to heal, and HBOT ensures your bones have enough oxygen for this purpose. Increased oxygen also supports the healing process by promoting new blood vessel production through angiogenesis.
The production of new blood vessels also improves blood flow, especially to the wounded area, accelerating the overall healing process. Your body uses the newly formed blood vessels to deliver more nutrients and promote growth factors in and around the fracture site, leading to faster healing. The therapy also helps stimulate stem cell production. These are the cells responsible for repairing damaged body tissues.
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Stimulating New Bone Growth
Hyperbaric chamber therapy can effectively stimulate bone growth by promoting the growth of new bone tissues. Our bones require high oxygen levels to maintain and heal as we age, but our bodies can often get oxygen-deprived and function at minimum oxygen levels. If you experience any bone fracture or other bone injury, your bone tissues will require additional oxygen to boost the growth factors necessary for bone healing and growth.
When you take the prescribed number of HBOT sessions, your body witnesses a rise in the vascular endothelial growth factor responsible for bone growth. The therapy also improves the bone morphogenetic protein, leading to better bone growth conditions. So if you’re undergoing any treatment to improve your bone health or heal bone fractures, adding HBOT to your treatment routine can help speed up the healing process.
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Boosting Collagen Production
Collagen is a vital protein needed for forming new bone tissues. One way medical professionals use to boost collagen production is by increasing the oxygen supply in the body tissues. While there are numerous ways to boost oxygen levels, HBOT is the most non-invasive method.
Since HBOT has no side effects, anyone can approach a licensed HBOT provider to enjoy its benefits. However, we recommend talking to your doctor before taking HBOT sessions since it can have minor adverse effects due to specific health conditions. If you’re getting your bone fracture treated, talk to the doctor to explore whether it is the right treatment for you.
Take HBOT and Witness Faster Recovery
Treatments like HBOT are rapidly gaining popularity because of their numerous benefits. While hyperbaric chamber therapy is for everyone, sportspersons are increasingly turning to it to accelerate their injury-healing process. Joe Musgrove is one of the recently known celebrities that has resorted to HBOT to fasten his bone fracture recovery process.
It is gradually healing and helping Joe recover, and it can help you too. So if you are looking for reliable treatment methods to fasten your bone fracture healing journey, taking HBOT sessions can help. You will not notice visible improvement after a session or two, but the changes will be more visible after a few sessions.
