HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY, AN INTEGRAL PART OF A 25 YEAR OLD PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER'S RECOVERY

Football-related spine injuries are becoming more prevalent and more serious than previously thought, particularly for kids and young adults aged 10 to 19. Here, a 25-year-old male NFL professional player sustained a catastrophic thoracic spinal cord injury (a T8 American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale grade A) while tackling. Immediate surgery needed to be performed. The surgery was successful and just 2 days later was followed by a course of 30 hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT) sessions at 2.4 ATA over a 27 day duration. In addition to HBOT, hypothermia therapy, omega 3 fatty acid therapy, and steroid therapy were also administered within this protocol. This “aggressive medical and surgical intervention with intensive rehabilitation” was able to help this player recover from a very serious condition and help him regain motor control to be able to “run and jump” with “minimal spasticity” Study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36131575/