Oxygen Chamber Therapy May Benefit Patients With Fibromyalgia

Hyperbaric oxygen chambers have been used therapeutically for many years. Best known to most of us as decompression therapy for scuba divers, hyperbaric oxygen is also used for a number of other conditions including carbon monoxide poisoning, wound healing, and radiation burns. Now, it appears that this treatment may also prove useful for patients with fibromyalgia. And that is exciting news indeed!

A small scale study of about 48 women with fibromyalgia preliminarily revealed just that. After two months of this form of treatment, seventy percent of subjects showed significant symptomatic improvement, along with improved brain function. They were almost indistinguishable from their non fibromyalgia counterparts following treatment, according to one expert.

The study findings were reported in the June 2015 edition of PLOS One. You can read further about this promising research by clicking here.

One thing to point out before you get too excited about finding this sort of treatment for fibromyalgia...it's still to early to say if it will become conventional therapy. The FDA yet to approve whether or not hyperbaric oxygen is indicated for fibromyalgia. As such, insurance companies most likely would not pay for this treatment at this point in time.

Sources: medicalexpress.com; wikimedia

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