Where did Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) come from?
Compressed air therapy dates back to the 1600’s, but the modern scientific use of the hyperbaric chamber in clinical medicine dates back to 1955 with the work of Churchill-Davidson, who was the first to use HBOT to increase the benefits of radiation therapy in cancer patients. Prior to this some considered HBOT a “cure-all” for every human ailment including baldness and small breasts – at least until it failed to perform for all these inappropriate claims. For most of the last century it was used to save the lives of SCUBA divers stricken with “the bends,” or decompression sickness – a life threatening condition that occurs when a diver returns from a deep dive too quickly. During the last fifty years its use began to include other medical conditions, such as bone infections, brain injury, Crohn’s disease (colitis), multiple sclerosis, near-drowning, radiation damage, smoke inhalation, stroke, and wound healing, and under the supervision of accredited physicians and highly-trained tech
