A decompression chamber or hyperbaric chamber is the primary tool for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). While not necessarily the number one go-to treatment method for other medical conditions, this technique is closely associated with treating decompression sickness. Since divers face various hazards, including decompression sickness, learning about the effects of this method can change how divers weigh the risks vs. the rewards of this activity.
Diving is physically and mentally taxing, so post-dive treatment is necessary to combat its toll. Unfortunately, the lack of treatment centers and general awareness of these mental and physical risks end up putting divers at risk. However, with the help of companies focusing on providing individuals or business owners with high-quality hyperbaric chambers, awareness about these issues is slowly coming to light. We invite you to read further to learn more about these topics.
The Importance of Decompression Sickness Treatment and Diving Recovery
While diving might look serene and fun on the surface, its more advanced form, deep-sea diving, can be very demanding on its practitioners. This situation is where decompression chambers or hyperbaric chambers come in. The primary concern of these machines is to address decompression sickness and expedite the recovery process by stimulating tissues and helping them kickstart the rejuvenation process.
Particular areas of concern include ears and sinuses, and conditions like fatigue, dehydration, and decompression sickness always present a significant danger for divers. Fortunately, divers can take various precautionary measures before diving besides using hyperbaric chambers. Here are some measures you can take to ensure a smooth recovery:
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Staying adequately hydrated before a dive
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Ensuring your body is in peak condition
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Not drinking too much alcohol the night before diving
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Having a good night’s sleep
While you can follow these preparations down to a t, nothing still beats the healing properties of an excellent decompression chamber. However, since hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is still not that well-known, there is a severe lack of diving recovery/decompression sickness treatment facilities available. Fortunately, articles such as this one and businesses like Airvida Chambers are slowly bringing the benefits of HBOT to the forefront. Additionally, breakthroughs in research are slowly uncovering the genius of this treatment method, making the future bright for decompression sickness treatment and post-dive recovery.
Critical Benefits of An Excellent Decompression Chamber for Divers
Hyperbaric chambers address decompression sickness and improve divers' performance by helping them stay physically and mentally sharp during a dive. It’s no secret that you have to be in peak condition before experiencing this activity, but the importance of what you do after diving often gets overshadowed. Fortunately, thanks to hyperbaric chambers, HBOT addresses these concerns and makes it all possible.
Here are some of the benefits for divers made possible by hyperbaric chambers:
1. Keeps Your Mind Sharp
During a dive, you face crucial, split-second decisions that can determine its success or failure. Sometimes, even if the body is willing, if the mind just can’t take the pressure anymore, a diver can get overwhelmed and commit crucial mistakes. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy saves divers from problems like this by supplying more than ample oxygen to the brain. A well-oxygenated brain and tissues perform at their peak, ensuring the mind is always sharp and ready to make quick decisions.
2. Improves Physical Performance
Diving is a physically demanding activity since you’ll be fighting against water pressure when you’re underwater. Additionally, you might not immediately feel this activity’s physical toll, making it deceptive, especially for newcomers. Fortunately, with HBOT, you don’t have to worry about these things anymore because of its ability to improve physical performance. Since pure oxygen is delivered at a higher atmospheric pressure, it can reach tissues and stimulate them to perform at their peak.
3. Helps Reduce Swelling
Some swelling is expected after any physical activity. Since diving requires physical exertion, you’ll feel its effects days after the activity. Fortunately, an excellent decompression chamber quickly reduces swelling by stimulating harder-to-reach tissues and facilitating recovery from inside your body. Thanks to HBOT, the swelling you might experience for a couple of days might be significantly reduced, giving you more time to focus on other things.
4. Serves as the Best Decompression Sickness Treatment
Decompression sickness is the primary issue associated with diving. This condition happens when there is a significant change in water and air pressure around the diver. Since the oxygen tanks these divers use produce oxygen and nitrogen, the nitrogen within their systems cannot cope with the sudden change in pressure and forms nitrogen bubbles. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy immediately pops these bubbles through the air pressure alone. Couple this feature with these chambers’ ability to aid in recovery, and you get a multi-pronged decompression sickness treatment method.
Hyperbaric Chambers: The Answer to The Lack of Post-Dive Treatment Facilities
The lack of post-dive treatment facilities has plagued the diving industry since its inception. As discussed earlier, diving requires more than ample preparation and a significant focus on post-dive recovery techniques to finally tip its risk vs reward nature in the reward’s favor. Fortunately, businesses like Airvida Chambers have various hyperbaric chamber models that cater to different needs. With these options, you no longer need to go to a facility and can just opt to enjoy hyperbaric oxygen therapy at home.
Here’s a brief overview of the different hyperbaric chamber models courtesy of Airvida Chambers:
Soft Shell Hyperbaric Chambers
Soft shell hyperbaric chambers are immediately recognizable thanks to their soft exteriors. This material makes these models highly portable and easily moveable. However, these models have some tricks up their sleeves that put them on par with their hard-shelled counterparts. Soft shell chambers can produce air pressure between 1.4 and 1.5 atmospheric pressure/absolutes (ATA). For reference, our atmosphere has 1 ATA, making soft shell chambers deliver almost an additional half atmospheric pressure to its users.
A decompression chamber under this classification also has lying and sitting models, with sitting models offering more legroom. The interior features are also geared towards comfort and safety, thanks to a memory foam mattress, air sanitizer, purifier, and cooler. Soft shell hyperbaric chambers are your go-to chambers to experience HBOT at home.
Notable Soft Shell Hyperbaric Chamber Models:
1.4ATA Airvida Portable Lying Hyperbaric Chamber
1.5ATA Airvida Portable Lying Hyperbaric Chamber
Airvida Pro90 Portable Sitting Hyperbaric Chamber
Airvida Chair Pro 1.4 ATA Hyperbaric Chamber
Hard Shell Hyperbaric Chambers
Hard-shell hyperbaric chambers have hard exterior materials, which makes them perfect for commercial use due to their sturdiness. Additionally, this material allows these models to produce significantly higher pressure than their soft-shell counterparts. These models produce 1.5 to 2.0ATA, doubling the standard atmospheric pressure and letting you experience HBOT’s benefits much quicker.
Hard shell hyperbaric chambers have lying and sitting variations like soft shell chambers, with the sitting models offering more legroom. Additionally, you can configure the sitting models to be reclining, lying, or sitting, giving you more comfort options. Regarding interior features, these models also come with a memory foam mattress, sanitizers, purifiers, and coolers. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinic owners who want an edge over the competition could do well by getting a hard shell decompression chamber model.
Notable Hard Shell Hyperbaric Chamber Models:
Airvida Ultra 1.5-2.0 ATA Hard Shell Lying Hyperbaric Chambers
Airvida Elite 1.5-2.0 ATA Hard Shell Sitting Hyperbaric Chamber
Let Airvida Chambers Provide You with an Excellent Decompression Chamber for Maximum Post-Dive Recovery
The issue regarding the lack of post-dive treatment centers is still ongoing. However, research supporting the effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, not just for diving but also for other medical conditions, is slowly but surely getting more people to care about this issue. Additionally, since you now can have hyperbaric chambers at home, post-dive treatment isn’t as inaccessible as it once was.
Let Airvida Chambers provide you with an excellent decompression chamber for maximum post-dive recovery. Thanks to these chambers, you won’t have to worry about the dreaded decompression sickness. While you enjoy your diving experience with help from inDEPTH, and their articles like What is Undeserved in “Undeserved Decompression Sickness”? you can also stop worrying about recovery with help from Airvida Chambers. If you want to learn more about our products, contact us today.