Bone Fractures
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) is a medical treatment that involves breathing nearly pure oxygen through a mask in a pressurised chamber. This high-pressure environment helps increase the amount of oxygen in the blood, and the amount of oxygen in the blood plasma. This can help speed up the healing of broken bones. HBOT enhances oxygen delivery to the affected tissues, promotes the growth of new blood vessels, reduces inflammation and helps the regrowth of healthy bone tissue. HBOT can also help bone repair, speed up healing and prevent complications relating to bone fractures.
How HBOT Works for Bone Fractures
HBOT can help fractured bones heal faster. It works by giving your body extra oxygen, which helps your body to build new blood vessels and speeds up healing.
1. Increases Oxygen Supply:
When a bone breaks, it needs a good blood supply to heal properly. However, the fracture itself can sometimes disrupt blood flow to the area, leading to a lack of oxygen in the tissues. This shortage of oxygen can slow down the healing process. HBOT helps by increasing the amount of oxygen dissolved in the blood. This extra oxygen can reach areas that aren’t getting enough blood flow, including the damaged tissue around the fracture.
The high levels of oxygen provided by HBOT encourage the growth of new blood vessels in the affected area. This improved blood supply promotes faster healing not only in straightforward fractures, but also it is particularly beneficial in complicated fractures. By boosting oxygen levels and encouraging new blood vessel growth, HBOT supports the body’s natural healing processes and can help bones heal more effectively.
2. New Blood Vessel Growth:
HBOT helps create new blood vessels, which is crucial for healing broken bones. HBOT encourages your body to produce special substances that promote blood vessel growth. These substances help form new blood vessels around the broken bone. The new blood vessels are important because they bring nutrients and healing cells to the injured area. This process helps your bone heal faster and more effectively.
3. Stimulates Bone Regrowth:
HBOT helps broken bones heal by supporting the work of special cells in your bones. These cells are responsible for building new bone tissue and removing old or damaged bone. When you receive HBOT, it encourages these bone cells to be more active. This increased activity helps your body create new bone material more quickly and efficiently. HBOT also helps your body produce more collagen, which is like a scaffold for new bone to grow on. By boosting collagen production, HBOT helps create a stronger, more supportive environment for your bones to heal. This combination of increased bone cell activity and improved collagen production can lead to faster and more effective healing of broken bones.
4. Reduces Inflammation:
When you break a bone, your body’s natural healing process begins with inflammation. This is normal and helps start the healing. However, if the inflammation lasts too long or becomes too intense, it can actually slow down healing or even prevent the bone from mending properly. HBOT works to balance the body’s inflammatory response. It does this by reducing certain substances in your body that cause inflammation. Think of these substances as messengers that tell your body to increase inflammation. HBOT helps to quiet these messengers. HBOT also helps protect your tissues from damage caused by harmful molecules produced during injury and inflammation. It does this by supporting your body’s natural defence systems. By managing inflammation and protecting your tissues, HBOT creates a better environment for your broken bone to heal. This can lead to faster and more effective healing, especially in cases where healing might otherwise be delayed.
Benefits of HBOT for Bone Fractures
HBOT is generally safe, with serious side effects being rare.
For people with broken bones, HBOT offers several potential benefits:
Faster Healing:
HBOT helps broken bones heal more quickly. It does this by increasing oxygen in the body, promoting new blood vessel growth, reducing swelling, and encouraging bone formation. This can be especially helpful for people whose bones heal slowly, such as smokers.
Better Pain Management:
HBOT can help reduce pain in many situations. It may help patients manage pain from broken bones and thereby reduce the need for pain medications.
Lower Risk of Complications:
Broken bones, especially those that pierce through the skin, can sometimes get infected. HBOT prevents bacterial growth thereby making it particularly useful for treating stubborn bone infections, potentially avoiding the need for more surgeries or long-term antibiotic use.
Improved Healing for People with Other Health Conditions:
People who smoke or have conditions like diabetes often experience slower or incomplete bone healing. HBOT can be especially beneficial for these individuals. It helps by increasing oxygen delivery to tissues and boosting the immune system, which can be weakened in these conditions. For people with diabetes, HBOT has been shown to improve healing outcomes.
Practical Considerations
Client Selection:
HBOT is a promising additional treatment for broken bones, especially in cases where there is infection or other underlying conditions. However, not everyone is suitable for HBOT. Clients need to fully disclose any conditions that might make the treatment risky, such as certain lung problems. Where required, an evaluation by a doctor before treatment ensures safety and helps determine if HBOT is the right choice for each client. Please note that OxyGeneration does not provide diagnostic services and is a treatment provide only. We strongly encourage all clients to consult with their medical team if required.
Treatment Protocols:
HBOT is a safe and valuable tool to accelerate the healing of broken bones in conjunction with standard medical treatment. HBOT sessions usually last 60 to 90 minutes and for optimum results we recommend regular (preferably daily) sessions. Standard fractures require aprox. 10 sessions, complicated fractures usually require more. To help determine how many sessions each individual will require, new clients can speak with OxyGeneration staff prior to commencing their Hyperbaric Oxygenation Therapy.
Monitoring Progress:
Regular assessments are crucial to track healing progress and adjust the treatment plan as necessary.
Professor John McElwain, Clinical Professor of Trauma and Orthopaedic Surgery, Trinity College Dublin, Adelaide and Meath Hospital, and Blackrock Clinic, notes in his experience that:
“Hyperbaric oxygen therapy in the treatment of trauma has been shown to improve the healing and outcomes significantly. Any patients that I have sent for this treatment have reported increased union rates. I believe that as time goes by, that Hyperbaric Oxygen will very soon become more widespread in the management of predominately major trauma”
Conclusion
HBOT is a promising additional treatment for broken bones, especially in cases where there is infection or other health conditions. HBOT works by increasing oxygen delivery to the injured area, by encouraging the growth of new blood vessels, managing swelling and encouraging new bone growth. These effects may help bones heal faster and more effectively.
HBOT is safe and potentially valuable tool in treating broken bones. It has the potential to speed up recovery times and improve overall results, particularly for people with complex fractures that are not healing well, or for those with other health issues that may slow down the body’s natural healing.
Please see our resource section for more technical information on HBOT and bone fractures.
For further information on the use of HBOT for bone fractures, please visit our resources page by clicking the link below.