Take a deep breath, this "oxygen" is really good!

Speaking of athletes’ training and recovery, yesterday we introduced to you a “net celebrity project” - cryotherapy. Today, Tadpole will continue to introduce to you a net celebrity medical device - a high-tech product - hyperbaric oxygen chamber - for athletes’ training and recovery.

The Zhangjiakou Chongli Plateau Training Base has a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to provide support for the national Olympic athletes' preparations and training.

Hyperbaric oxygen and hyperbaric oxygen chamber

The biggest difference between high-pressure oxygen inhalation and ordinary oxygen inhalation lies in the "high pressure". Only oxygen inhalation under high pressure can play a role in treating diseases.

Oxygen inhalation under normal pressure, that is, the carrying of hemoglobin, can only increase physical dissolved oxygen under high pressure. Physical dissolved oxygen can increase the human body's blood oxygen partial pressure and blood oxygen concentration, thereby playing a role in treating diseases.

Clinical practice shows that hyperbaric oxygen therapy is suitable for more than 100 diseases, and in practice, there are about 40 diseases that are most widely used and have the best effects. For example, acute carbon monoxide poisoning, craniocerebral trauma, idiopathic deafness, surgical accidents, myelitis, cerebral palsy in children, poor brain development and other diseases are suitable for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and the treatment effect is very good.

In addition, high pressure oxygen can kill anaerobic bacteria, inhibit the growth of aerobic bacteria, and enhance the vitality and phagocytic function of white blood cells.

The hyperbaric oxygen chamber is a high-pressure container used for the high-pressure environment required for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Its chamber body is a closed cylinder, and pure oxygen or purified compressed air is input through pipes and control systems.

Image source: MediaCorp Online

How do hyperbaric oxygen chambers help athletes recover?

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers are not a new thing. They have long been used in the medical field and were used in the Olympics before 1998. So how do hyperbaric oxygen chambers help athletes?

In the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, as the air pressure in the chamber increases, a large amount of oxygen enters the athlete's body through breathing and dissolves in the blood, greatly increasing the blood oxygen content in the plasma, cells throughout the body, and body fluids, thereby improving the body's oxygen utilization efficiency.

Medical Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber

By increasing the blood oxygen content in the body, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber can exert an antibacterial effect, stimulate the immune activity of immune cells, enhance antibacterial activity, and at the same time promote the contraction of athletes' blood vessels, reduce inflammation in muscle contusions, help muscle recovery, and reduce muscle soreness caused by training.

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers can also help skeletal muscle, myocardium, and brain restore normal oxidative metabolism, promote the recovery of serum enzymes and liver enzyme spectra, and accelerate the removal of harmful metabolites, thereby relieving post-exercise fatigue.

The environment in the hyperbaric chamber is also very good. During hyperbaric oxygen treatment, athletes can sit or lie down in the hyperbaric chamber and read, listen to music, work on a laptop, watch a movie or take a nap.

Ordinary people should not try hyperbaric oxygen therapy casually

Due to its effectiveness in sports recovery, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber has become an auxiliary device for special groups such as sports teams, mountaineering teams, and divers. In the future, the hyperbaric oxygen chamber may be able to enter the home to help people improve insomnia, headaches, fatigue and other problems, as well as prevent and assist in the treatment of related chronic diseases.

However, like other treatments, hyperbaric oxygen therapy also has corresponding contraindications and needs to be treated under the guidance of a professional doctor. Hyperbaric oxygen chamber treatment has some side effects, such as discomfort to the eardrum, sinuses and lungs during the pressurization and decompression phases, and high concentrations of oxygen may cause spasms and other damage. Another side effect is myopia.

Therefore, healthy people should not try the hyperbaric oxygen chamber out of curiosity. If necessary, they must receive treatment under the guidance of a professional doctor.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics embodies many high-tech achievements. Do you want to know more about the Winter Olympics?

This article is compiled from Guokr, SIFIC Infection Science Notes, Guangxi TV News Channel "Medical All-round", Oxygen Chamber Home, etc.

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Editor/Heart and Paper