How long has HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY been used for Medical Conditions?
The use of increased atmosphere pressure for medical therapy has intrigued many physicians, scientists, and lay persons for hundreds of years. As early as the 1600s, practitioners varied atmospheric pressure in attempts to heal. Using a system of organ bellows, a British clergyman named Henshaw could adjust pressure within a sealed chamber called a domicilium. The simplistic principle behind its use was that acute conditions would respond to elevated atmospheric pressures, whereas chronic conditions would benefit from reduced pressure. As time passed, air-compression devices evolved in appearance and function. It also was discovered that the use of compressed air could facilitate other methods. For example, a French surgeon named Fontaine created a mobile chamber that took advantage of a basic law of physics (Henry’s law), which states that the solubility of a gas in a liquid is proportional to the pressure of the gas over the solution, provided that no chemical reaction occurs. By rai
