Many of us are aware of what a concussion is, but perhaps not all of us have heard of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Concussions are a type of mild TBI, which broadly is any overarching injury that affects brain function. They can range from mild symptoms as in a concussion, to severe effects that may greatly affect an individual’s activities of daily living. TBIs may be caused by bumps or blows to the head, or penetrating injuries such as a gunshot, and may result in symptoms such as confusion, blurry vision, nausea, and other symptoms. In children, these TBIs may even disrupt a child’s development, and in older adults may often be missed.
TBIs in the Real World
TBIs resulting from accidents and crashes are a major cause of both disability and death world-wide. A statistic from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found that a whopping 138 people are affected everyday by TBIs, and these specific injuries contribute to approximately 30% of all the deaths from injury in the United States. Another shocking statistic states that around 2.5 million hospitalizations in the United States in 2010 were recorded as being TBI related. Another statistic shares that in 2020 176 people on average died from a TBI each day. It’s important that individuals properly heal and recover from these injuries, so knowing what options are available on the road to recovery is a great thing.
What Can HBOT Do for a TBI Case?
As we’ve previously discussed, hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the overall flow of pure oxygen to the patient. This has been demonstrated to enhance recovery processes from a TBI and increase brain activity by means of reducing any hypoxia and brain inflammation in the patient while simultaneously increasing circulation in the brain. When paired with other healing modalities and therapies, HBOT has been found to enhance the effects of the other therapies allowing TBI patients to accelerate their recovery. Various clinical studies have been able to replicate and demonstrate the overarching benefits of the use of HBOT in TBI:
Enhance Neurological Repair & Regeneration
- Attenuate effects of hypoxia and inflammation in brain
- Promotes neurogenesis
- Moderates mitochondrial disorders
- Enhances stem cell mobilization and proliferation
- Increases penumbra tissue recovery
- Stimulates neuroplasticity
- Induces remyelination
- Augments concussion recovery
Improve Overall Functions
- Advance cognitive function
- Improve gross and fine motor skills
- Enhance speech and language
- Alleviate spasticity
- Lessen frequency of seizures
- Stimulates better eye contact
- Improve balance and walking
A Study in HBOT Efficacy
But you don’t just have to take my word for it. Prior studies clearly show improvement through HBOT use, one of which looked at motor function specifically in the case of children with cerebral palsy, a congenital disorder that affects movement, muscle tone, or posture. The study was performed in 2014 as a controlled longitudinal study – meaning that the researchers followed the same groups of individuals over time to note any changes and maintained a control group that was not manipulated to serve as a comparative baseline to the groups that were provided with experimental measures. The study looked at a total of 150 children living with cerebral palsy over a span of eight months. The control group only underwent standard rehabilitation therapies, whereas the experimental groups, of which there were three, underwent standard rehabilitation therapies along with HBOT at different levels of atmospheric pressure (1.3 ATA, 1.5 ATA, 1.75 ATA). Each individual HBOT group participant had a care plan which consisted of 40 one-hour long HBOT sessions for six days a week. At the end of the 8 months individuals had a follow up appointment to assess any changes, either growth or regression, and researchers found that all four groups, experimental and control, improved in both gross and fine motor function. However, they also found that the individuals in any one of the HBOT experimental groups had on average 3x higher motor function variation than the control group. The study’s research concludes that the use of HBOT in patient care can greatly enhance efficacy in recovery and improve patient outcomes, making it the perfect candidate for addition to any treatment plan, including traumatic brain injuries!
