Wound Healing Injuries

Wound Care | Sports Injury Treatment | Georgia | Atlanta | Decatur Most wounds heal on their own within a short amount of time with no complications. Wounds should show significant improvement over the course of two weeks, and should be almost completely healed after four weeks. However, some wounds such as bed sores, leg ulcers, skin grafts, crush injuries, infected bones and osteoradionecrosis can turn into chronic conditions if they do not properly heal in a timely manner. Chronic wounds affect over two percent of the general population and can often lead to hospitalization and serious complications.

How do wound healing injuries occur?

Wound healing injuries often involve tissue hypnoxia, a condition that involves inadequate oxygen supply that is needed for healing. Without oxygen, new blood vessels cannot be generated and the area does not receive the nutrients it requires to return to a healthy, living state.

How can Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy help wound healing injuries?

HBOT is one of the most effective and least invasive treatments currently available for the care of wound healing injuries. Instead of surgery, grafting and other invasive procedures, HBOT treats wounds by delivering a highly concentrated supply of oxygen to the wound to create hyperoxygenation, angiogenesis and white blood cell stimulation through a series of regular treatment sessions.

Patients who undergo HBOT have a decreased need for amputation, most notably in patients with diabetic foot ulcers. When combined with traditional wound care, many patients experience significant improvement in chronic wounds with HBOT. HBOT can also help keep skin flaps and grafts that are placed over wounds in place.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy may be used as either primary or adjunctive care in:

Difficult Wounds

Difficult wounds including decubiti (bed sores), leg ulcers, skin grafts, crush injuries, infected bones, and osteoradionecrosis can develop into chronic conditions requiring costly hospitalization and extensive nursing care, when treated only with conventional medical procedures. These disabling conditions often show remarkable improvement with HBOT.

Skin Grafts, Flaps and Replants

Following ischemia or vascular repair in cases where there has been decreased microcirculation, HBOT has been demonstrated to maximize the viability and final functional level of the compromised nerve and muscle tissue.

Crush Injury, Compartment Syndrome, and Other Acute Traumatic Ischemias: HBOT increases tissue oxygen tension to levels that allow host responses to infections and ischemia to become functional. Effects include enhanced oxygenation at the tissue level, increased oxygen delivery per unit of blood flow and edema reduction.

Sports Injuries

As many of us know, even the most casual of athletes and sports enthusiasts can experience injuries. Via HBOT, additional oxygen reaches damaged bone tissue, and helps to speed the body's natural healing process reducing recovery times for various soft-tissue injuries and bone fractures. The effectiveness of HBOT in this area has been well documented; in fact, at least twelve professional NBA, NHL, and NFL teams currently own or lease HBOT chambers for treating their players.

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