Doctor Paul Harch has been studying the effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy on more than 500 patients with brain injuries. He claims to that the high doses of oxygen stimulates the brain’s ability to repair itself.
Examples of those this therapy has helped include a Florida judge who says he experienced improved cognition, word finding and balance – all areas that were damaged when he suffered a traumatic brain injury in Afghanistan.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been used for Autism, decompression sickness in deep sea divers, gas embolism, CO poison, smoke inhalation, migrains, burns and a variety of other medical conditions. It increases neuronal energy metabolism in the brain, wakes up sleeping brain cells, enhances the immune system, reduces tissue swelling and deactivates toxins among other benefits.
As more studies are done and applications documented regarding oxygen therapy’s application to TBI, hopefully there will be an increase in patients with improved functioning.