Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a special treatment that uses pressure and oxygen to help your body heal from the inside.

Hyperbarics can help with many health problems, both big and small.

HBOT works by improving things like blood flow and how your genes work, which makes it really effective for helping your body recover from sickness or injury, whether it's something that just happened or something that has been bothering you for a long time.

Who can Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Help?

HBOT can be used to treat many medical conditions, accelerate recovery from acute injuries, protect against age-related diseases, and improve general health and wellness. Below are some of the most common conditions we see for HBOT.

Contact us via email about any condition you may have that is not included above.

How does Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Work?

Our cells need oxygen to stay healthy and heal. During Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT), patients breathe in lots of oxygen while inside a special chamber that has high pressure.

This helps the blood carry more oxygen to our tissues, making them healthier. The extra oxygen also helps our body produce special molecules called reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), which are like superheroes that control lots of genes in our body.

These genes help with things like reducing inflammation, making more stem cells available, creating new blood vessels, and protecting against harmful bacteria. It's like giving our body a superpower to fight off sickness and heal faster!

Why Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy?

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, or "HBOT", is a treatment that involves breathing oxygen at high pressure in a special chamber. This increases the supply of oxygen to your cells and tissues, which has many positive effects on your body. HBOT is used to treat a variety of conditions, including post-COVID brain fog, concussions, post-surgical healing, and dementia, because it has a wide range of therapeutic benefits for different systems in the body, such as the circulatory, immune, and regenerative systems.

In many medical conditions, one or more systems in the body are not functioning properly, leading to disease symptoms and progression. For example, conditions like Crohn's disease may weaken the immune system, while dementia may be associated with problems in the circulatory system. HBOT is effective in improving a wide range of conditions and promoting general health and well-being by targeting these dysfunctional systems and promoting positive changes in them.

A century of clinical research has shown that the combination of oxygen and pressure:

  • Increase levels of oxygen in your blood plasma, accelerating your natural ability to heal

  • Regulates over 8,000 of approximately 20,000 total genes

  • Up regulates anti-inflammatory genes

  • Down regulates inflammatory genes

  • Reduces pain and swelling

  • Builds new collagen, skin and tissues

  • Regrows healthy bone and gums by stimulating new bone, and tissues to grow

  • Builds new blood vessels and blood supply to tissues and bones

  • Softens fibrous connective tissue, increasing functionality and range of motion

  • Heals infections, and enhances the effect of antibiotics

  • Mobilises stem cells and growth factors associated with the body’s regenerative and repairative processes

  • It is safe, comfortable, easy, and pain free

  • New Blood Vessel Formation

    Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) can help create new blood vessels in the body through two processes: angiogenesis and vasculogenesis. Angiogenesis involves HBOT triggering the production of growth factors that stimulate existing cells to form new blood vessels. Vasculogenesis, on the other hand, involves HBOT mobilizing stem cells from the bone marrow to create brand-new blood vessels. These new blood vessels play a crucial role in delivering nutrients and oxygen to damaged tissues, aiding in healing processes that may not have occurred otherwise.

  • Increased Stem Cell Activity

    Stem cells are special cells in our bodies that can transform into different types of cells. They play a vital role in our body's natural regenerative process. HBOT helps release stem progenitor cells (SPCs) from the bone marrow into the bloodstream. These SPCs are crucial for creating new blood vessels, which is known as neovascularization. This has many benefits, particularly for injured tissues that need better blood flow for healing. Recent research has also shown that some SPCs have the potential to transform into various types of cells in the body, which suggests promising possibilities for treating degenerative and inherited diseases.

  • Decreased Inflammation

    In some diseases, the body's inflammatory response goes into overdrive due to physiological issues. While inflammation is necessary to a certain extent, excessive production of certain cytokines (such as IL-1, IL-6) can cause serious problems. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) has been proven to reduce systemic inflammation in the body. Research has shown that HBOT achieves this by increasing the activity of anti-inflammatory genes and reducing the activity of inflammatory genes. This leads to a decrease in the inflammatory response, which helps prevent further tissue damage and promotes healing of inflamed tissues.

FAQs

  • Before you come to the clinic, you'll need to contact us and discuss your current medical conditions. Together with your primary medical provider we will work out a treatment plan for you.

  • You will receive your HBOT therapy seated in a metal hyperbaric chamber.

    You will receive the high flow oxygen through a face mask.

  • We have a 5 seat hard-shell, multi-seat chamber at Wellington Hyperbarics and a 2 seat multi seat chamber at Manawatu Hyperbarics.

    Our biggest chamber can seat up to 5 patients.

  • Whether it’s reading, watching a movie, or relaxing, there is plenty to do during your HBOT session.

    We have screens in our chambers that we use during most treatment sessions.

    You are also more than welcome to bring your own book to read during treatment! 

  • There will be a trained  technician present at all HBOT sessions.

    While you may be the only patient in the chamber on some days, most sessions will have other patients in the chamber as well.

  • Most HBOT sessions will last roughly 1 hour and 30 minutes, which includes the time it takes to pressurize the chamber, 1 hour at the prescribed depth, and the time it takes to depressurize the chamber.

    Certain conditions may require shorter or longer durations at depth. 

  • This depends on the condition that you are receiving treatment for, as well as how your body responds to HBOT.

    The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of HBOT can typically be felt within the first few sessions.

    Benefits for acute injuries and soft-tissue damage can typically be seen 5-10 sessions, while chronic injuries typically require 10-20 sessions.

    Many conditions require 20-60 HBOT sessions for full healing effects, such as stem cell increase.  

  • HBOT is generally considered one of the safest therapies in use today.

    Any serious side effects can be prevented by pre-HBOT screening that all patients receive during their consultation.

    One side effect that is some people experience  is mild ear pain while the chamber pressurises.

    However, this can be reduced through appropriate middle ear equalisation manoeuvres, and it typically goes away as you receive more treatments.  

  • Yes

    Wellington Hyperbarics Provides Brain EQ to take a brain benchmark to measure your progress against.

  • No

    So we use metal “hard shell” chambers that allow us to achieve medically significant outcomes that inflatable chambers, or low pressure chambers, can not replicate.

  • The countries with the largest research and investments into HBOT are China, Russia and Israel.

    There are over 7,000 Hyperbaric chambers in medical facilities between those three countries.

    Hyperbaric chambers can add benefit to most medical conditions, and medical treatments when used in conjunction with traditional treatments.

  • Everyone is different, let’s discuss your personal circumstances.

Let’s work together

You can make a booking directly with the clinic using the contact form below, or your GP or specialist can arrange for treatment as part of their care for you.