World Sidecar champion Ben Birchall has been using the “Heal the Rider” Isle of Man Hyperbaric chamber to assist the healing of his skin grafts and after just six sessions in the chamber has seen a vast improvement in his condition.              Full Article

Heavyweight Boxer Tony Thompson Treated with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

Heavyweight Boxing Championship contender Tony Thompson is currently receiving Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at Hyperbaric Therapy USA’s Center of Excellence in Newtown Square, PA.  Boxers in Russia and  Europe regularly undergo HBOT to receive its beneficial effects

Hyperbaric Therapy USA – Center of Excellence
3744 West Chester Pike
Newtown Square, PA 19073

Channing Crowder vows to be ready for training camp

June 01, 2010|By Omar Kelly, Sun Sentinel

Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder bought a hyperbaric chamber during the offseason to help him recover more quickly from a fractured foot he suffered in December.

It appears Crowder’s oxygen therapy naps are doing the trick. The injury healed well enough for Crowder to participate in last weekend’s minicamp and again this week on a limited basis in the Dolphins’ organized team activities.

Tuesday, Crowder took a few snaps with the first-team defense. Afterward, Crowder said he’s “feeling good” and vowed he’ll be cleared to participate in training camp when it opens in August.

“I’m slowly progressing back into it,” he said. “They are giving me a couple of things here and there. During minicamp I got to do red-zone work, and now I’m sprinkled in,” said Crowder, who contributed 52 tackles, one interception and one sack in 13 games last season. “They want to make sure [the foot] doesn’t regress, and as long as it keeps getting better, I’ll keep getting more [work].”

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Oxygen chamber won’t help Tiger Woods, His mind needs to heal not body

Wednesday, May 26. 2010

By Chris Johnson

Tiger Woods is having a hyperbaric oxygen chamber installed at his home. Michael Jackson and other athletes have used the chamber in the past to speed their recoveries from injuries. Tiger also plans to install four new pools: a lap pool, a dive pool, a reflection pool and a kiddie pool.

I find it somewhat humorous that Tiger Woods is having a hyperbaric oxygen chamber installed at his home. I say that only because of the all the rumors that circulated around Michael Jackson when he had one installed in his house in the late 1980′s. This is just another reason for the tabloid media to hound Tiger and to make up salacious lies. Outside of that though, hyperbaric oxygen chambers are considered a legitimate medical treatment and are said to speed healing in certain cases. How hyperbaric oxygen chambers work is quite simple actually, a patient lies inside a pressurized chamber where they breathe 100 percent pure oxygen. In theory this treatment “improves the effects of certain antibiotics, activates white blood cells to fight infection, and promotes the healing process of chronic wounds.” (source: Lowell General Hospital)

If the injury that forced Tiger Woods to withdraw from the The Players Championship earlier this month was truly physical and not one of pride then this treatment could go a long way towards speeding his recovery and allowing him to compete at the high level he did before the this whole mess with mistresses and car accidents surfaced.

The bigger problem for Tiger as I see it is not any physical injury but one of concentration and focus. That statement alone is monumental. Tiger Woods has always been a player whose focus and concentration were beyond reproach. But, if you looked at how Tiger played during The Players Championship, it was apparent that the troubles with his swing were less to do with an injury and more to do with what has to be a very distracted mind.

During the Masters Tiger Woods was insulated from the media and the so called “regular” folks due to the tight restrictions put in place during that tournament. However, during The Players Championship Tiger had to endure much more abuse than he has ever had to in his career. While it was pretty tame stuff compared to what other athletes have to endure it was still a new experience for Tiger and one that clearly effected his game.

Only time will tell if Tiger Woods can regain his once herculean form and dominate the tour once again. The only way that will ever happen though is if Tiger can get past everything that has happened and just play golf, and an hyperbaric oxygen chamber will not help him do that.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/05/tiger-woods-building-an-oxygen-therapy-room/1

Urijah Faber used hyperbaric oxygen to heal post-fight trauma

April 26, 2010 (MMD Newswire) — On Saturday night, April 24th, featherweight champion Jose Aldo pummeled Urijah Faber’s left leg for 25-cruel minutes in front of Faber’s hometown Sacramento WEC supporters. Aldo landed a several debilitating kicks to Faber’s lead leg in the fight’s first two rounds.

Dr. Stoller, medical director of the Hyperbaric Oxygen Clinic of Sacramento, helped Faber, “The California Kid,” heal his broken hand last year utilizing a medical therapy that has become increasingly popular with professional athletes. Hyperbaric Oxygen (100% Oxygen delivered in a high pressure environment) accelerates the body’s ability to repair itself and in many cases allows for a healing that would not have been possible without the hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT).

“HBOT is the same therapy we are now starting to use on Iraqi and Afgan war vets who experience TBI/PTSD (see www.hyperbaricmedicalassociation.org),” Stoller said.

Stoller was watching the fight live in Sacramento and knew he would need to open the hyperbaric clinic up. Clinic manager, Mike Greenhalgh, was there waiting for Faber as he arrived at midnight to treat the traumatized muscles of his left leg.

Faber continues to be one of the world’s best mixed martial artists and the rapid healing of his injuries using HBOT has made sure he can minimize the trauma to his body from fighting and will regain his former title on another day.

Talk to the ankle

By Mackie Shilstone  |  February 3, 2010; 6:54 AM ET

To play or not to play, that is the Super Bowl question for Indianapolis Colts Dwight Freeney. The Pro Bowl defensive end who, tore a ligament in his right ankle in a playoff game against the Jets is listed as questionable — you can get competing views with the Colts’ organization.

Media reports say that Colts’ president Bill Polian predicts Freeney will play in the Super Bowl against the Saints this Sunday. Team spokesman Craig Kelly said “nothing we have seen changes our diagnosis that he is questionable.” Freeney is quoted as saying “I’ve really just been dealing with this, literally, day-to-day from the moment I wake up in the morning.”

But we have left out one important entity to talk to — the ankle. Here is what it might say: I do not feel too good and right now. I have a third degree low sprain (basketball type). I am walking in a boot. It hurts to push off. I wish it were a grade 1 or 2 sprain, because chances are I would be just fine but, with a grade 3 sprain, the torn ligament means that I have much healing ahead and little time before I have to push very hard against my large body weight in pursuit of the Saints’ QB Drew Brees and that elusive Saints running back Reggie Bush.

So, what is being done to speed my healing. Right now I am enduring hyperbaric treatments to speed my tissue repair. This process involves putting my body in a chamber of increased pressure which forces oxygen in higher concentrations into the damaged area. The hyperbaric chamber has been used in similar sports like the NHL, NBA, to not only accelerate recovery, but also to speed the repair time of damaged soft tissue.

A 2003 issue of the journal of American Podiatric Association reported that “in various studies the location of the injury seemed to influence the effectiveness of the treatment. Injuries at areas of reduced perfusion such as muscle-tendon junctions and ligaments seemed to benefit more from hyperbaric oxygen treatment than injuries at the muscle belly.”

Freeney is also said to be using a system called ARP- Accelerated Recovery Performance- which uses bio-electrical current, simultaneously with active range of motion and other exercise techniques, to significantly speed up the body’s natural healing process. While this therapy is still questionable, I have a podiatrist friend in sports in Canada who swears by this mode of therapy.

My question is, is everything but the kitchen sink being thrown at the ankle in the hope of having it ready for at minimum 65 push-offs in a regulation NFL game? Is there a management plan in place or is desperation at hand? Time will tell.

When it comes to game day there are always those injections to reduce pain and inflammation (I am not talking about a race horse here) and the tightest tape job imaginable. And please do not forget that the ultimate body hormones and pain killers — adrenaline and endorphins — will be on hand as well.

But, with the ankle locked with tape and still able to roll in an unstable environment, what might the risk be to a knee injury based on the lower extremity kinetic chain being impaired? What about those unfriendly Saints’ players on offensive that will roll up Dwight like a big rug, if given the opportunity on a pitch out. And, maybe one of the most important facts is that Freeney, who lines up on the right side, will need to push off with the right ankle. So, why not move him to the left side? This might, to a slight degree reduce the overuse trauma to the ankle. Ironically, it would have better if he broke his ankle in terms recovery ability.

On game day, when the team orthopedist examines Freeney, the Anterior Drawer Test will tell all. If the ankle when grabbed and pulled forward has no end point, then it’s time to call it quits and wait for another Super Bowl. The big question is will Freeney play anyway?

Playing for the moment — a Super Bowl moment — may be well worth it in the eyes of the players and fans but, in the long run, it’s more about quality of life later. After the game and career, when the fans forget who you are and what sacrifices you made to keep your team in the game will it be worth it?