Inducing neuroplasticity and enhancing neurological and cognitive capabilities, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an innovative biological treatment method.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has shown promise in treating the neurodegenerative symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
In a hyperbaric chamber, patients can breathe 100% (pure) oxygen as part of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
The interior air pressure is increased so that it is greater than the atmospheric pressure outside.
When the oxygen content of the air is high, and the atmospheric pressure is high, the lungs are able to take in more oxygen, and there is more oxygen in the blood plasma.
Tissues that need it to repair and fight off infections benefit from increased oxygen delivery from increased blood oxygen levels.
During treatment, the patient will spend 90-120 minutes per day lying on a bed inside a hyperbaric chamber.
Many doctors recommend a series of 20 sessions for new patients. Depending on how far along the wound is and how many complications have arisen, treatment times may need to be stretched out even further.
Diving to depths of 33–45 feet below sea level is mimicked inside a pressurized cylinder filled with 100 percent oxygen. Because of the boost in pressure, more oxygen may be dissolved into the plasma (up to 10 to 20 times more than normal).
The oxygen content of the air we breathe averages around 21 percent. In a hyperbaric chamber, patients can expect to breathe in oxygen concentrations of about 200 to 240 percent.
Oxygen enrichment promotes neuroplasticity over time. Brain plasticity, also called neuroplasticity, refers to the brain’s capacity for change through the development and rewiring of neural networks.
It’s the process by which a person’s brain is rewired to perform in a way different from its usual routine.
Alterations can be on the scale of a single neuron pathway forming a new connection all the way up to large-scale alterations such as cortical remapping.
Changes in neural circuits and networks can be brought about through exposure to novel stimuli, repetition, practice, and even emotional or mental strain, all of which are examples of neuroplasticity.
Blood cells, plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, and other physiological fluids can all take in more oxygen at higher than normal pressures.
Because the body is able to take in more oxygen during HBOT, it speeds up the healing process. Brain function can be enhanced by increasing the amount of oxygen it receives, while pathological issues emerge at lower oxygen levels.
Because of its role as a rate-limiting element in both normal and disease-related cognitive function, oxygen supplementation enhances cognitive performance.
It modifies the EEG pattern of brain activity in healthy aged adults. Because of this, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy treats Parkinson’s Disease using the power of oxygen.