Football-related spine injuries are becoming more prevalent and more serious than previously thought, particularly for kids and young adults aged 10 to 19. Here, a 25-year-old male NFL professional player sustained a catastrophic thoracic spinal cord injury (a T8 American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade A) while tackling. Immediate surgery needed to be performed. The surgery was successful and just 2 days later was followed by a course of 30 hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT) sessions at 2.4 ATA over a 27 day duration. In addition to HBOT, hypothermia therapy, omega 3 fatty acid therapy, and steroid therapy were also administered within this protocol. This “aggressive medical and surgical intervention with intensive rehabilitation” was able to help this player recover from a very serious condition and help him regain motor control to be able to “run and jump” with “minimal spasticity” <view study> Read Less

HBO is a promising therapy for spinal cord injuries. This study showed that the combination of transplanted Mesenchymal Stem cells (MSCs) and HBO treatment improved the recovery of lost hind limbs function in spinal cord-injured rats <view study>     Read Less

Long-term disabilities from spinal cord injuries are linked with the extent of secondary injury from the inflammation that immediately follows the injury. This natural body body response of inflammation, limits the amount of blood and oxygen getting to the area, and thus poses greater problem. Hyperbaric oxygen has been used as an off-label treatment for spinal cord injuries for many years now, with many positive reports by both patients and treating physicians. This study showed that applying hyperbaric therapy may reduce secondary damage by reducing the inflammatory factors produced by the body. This gives good rationale for using HBOT following spinal cord injuries, not only to reduce secondary damage due to inflammation, but for also getting extra oxygen into the area and promote further repair, while not losing functional capacity <view study> Read Less

Following spinal cord injuries, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been shown to produce a positive effect on healing, but it still remains unclear of the main mechanisms of action. This study followed spinal cord injuries treated with HBOT and demonstrated that this group had higher and longer expressions of VEGF (Vascular endothelial growth factor), which is responsible for the growth of new blood vessels. This follows many other studies and citations, particularly with non-healing wounds, where HBOT facilitates the body to produce more blood vessels to damaged tissue, for long terms benefits <view study> Read Less