Athletic performance is highly dependent on the physical condition of the athletes. The Hyperbaric chamber allows the athlete to recover more quickly and improves general health, which leads to greater physical performance. In a study involving soccer players in Scotland, the time it takes to recover from joint, muscle, ligament, tendon, and other types of injuries was reduced by 70% when the players were treated with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in addition to physiotherapy. The Hyperbaric chamber also speeds recovery from workouts by infusing oxygen into the body's tissues. This allows the athlete to perform better because he/she is fully recovered from the previous workout.

The risk of injuries is a potential hazard for all sports and can occur in even the most novice athletes. More and more athletes are taking control of their recovery and coming back stronger than ever using hyperbaric oxygen therapy. A hyperbaric oxygen chamber creates an environment of increased pressure, which forces greater amounts of oxygen into the body. This higher concentration of oxygen reaches the blood supply, organs, injured muscle and bone tissue, damaged tendons and joints, supporting the body's natural healing process at a much faster rate. In effect, recovery times are reduced, performance is improved, and endurance is enhanced. In fact, the effectiveness of hyperbaric therapy has been well documented as many professional sports teams currently utilize hyperbaric chambers for player therapy.

• Reduces swelling and pain
• Prevents hypoxia of the traumatized tissues
• Speeds up the healing of tissues, ligaments and fractured bones
• Reduces scar tissue formation and damage
• Helps return players to the game sooner

Ischemia and edema are parts of a vicious circle where Hypoxia is the major component in the changes that affect the injured tissues. Edema (swelling) of the tissues will compound the problem created by hypoxia as it increases the diffusion distance from the capillaries to the cell. This also affects the microcirculation or clumping of erythrocytes that in turn impede circulation in already compromised tissue. Although plasma still may go through the capillaries, it may not carry enough oxygen to sustain the life of cells. Here is where the oxygen under pressure proves its benefits (Henry's Law) as the partial pressure of inspired oxygen increases, the plasma dissolved in oxygen increases proportionately.

Traumatized tissue's auto regulatory mechanism increases blood flow to compensate for hypoxia. In a damaged microcirculation this mechanism causes undesirable swelling. The increases in the oxygen carrying capacity of the plasma appears to have 2 important effects. Firstly, in-spite of the collapse of the microcirculation (Hargens&Akeson 1981) the plasma carry sufficient amounts of oxygen to avoid problems associated with hypoxia. Hyperbaric oxygen increases the diffusion distance by a factor of three. Second effect; reduction of edema through vasoconstriction. Oxygen under pressure causes 20% reduction in blood flow. Edema is reduced at the same time microcirculation improves and this enhances re-absorption of fluid and a further reduction of swelling. In addition HBOT appears to protect microcirculation by reducing venular leukocyte adherence and inhibiting progressive adjacent arteriolar vasoconstriction.

The important part of treatment and rehabilitation of any injury is physical therapy with the associated application of HBOT, using various protocols according to the type and origin of the injury. Data from many studies suggest that treatment should be instituted with in first 24-48 hours. Some studies indicate the first 12 hours is very important and the injury should be treated aggressively from 2.2 ATA to 2.8 ATA between 60-90 min.