Hyperbaric comes from Greek where “hyper” means more and “baric” relates to pressure.  This amounts to “more pressure.”  Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) increases the oxygenation of all organs, tissues, and body fluids.  It is the pressure of the chamber that enables the oxygen molecules to penetrate compromised tissues three to four times farther than normally diffused by red blood cells. 

​

Simply breathing 100% pure oxygen outside the chamber will NOT significantly increase a patient’s healing capabilities at all.  When a patient is in the chamber, the increased pressure causes the blood plasma, and other liquids of the body, to absorb much larger quantities of oxygen, greatly increasing oxygen uptake by the cells, tissues, glands, organs, brain, and all fluids of the body. For example, once inside the pressurized chamber at 2.0 atmospheres, oxygen is being delivered to the patient’s tissues at a rate of 20 times breathing normal air. This oxygen can then be utilized by the body for vital functions related to healing. 

 

That really is how hyperbaric oxygen works.