SOFT HBO
The scientific community also distinguishes mild or moderate HBO (mild hyperbaric oxygen therapy), in which therapy is performed at pressures less than 1.3 atm. Due to a wide range of contraindications and limitations (including those related to fire safety), classical hyperbaric oxygenation is performed by specially trained medical personnel who are allowed to work with therapeutic hyperbaric systems.
In contrast, the soft HBO regime is the therapeutic use of gas mixtures with an increased oxygen content at an excess atmospheric pressure in the range of 1.1-1.3 ATA. Practically without contraindications, this method is widely used both in medical institutions and in SPA salons.
Oxygen sources in the mild mode of barotherapy are oxygen concentrators located next to the chamber that allow you to get oxygen from atmospheric air. At the same time, classical hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) requires a gasifier for storing oxygen, an oxygen supply system to the chamber, and a staff with special additional training to ensure the safety of operating pressure vessels during the day.
This method of barotherapy is becoming increasingly widely used in recent years due to two main advantages: the absence of the need for oxygen delivery from the source and the high technical reliability of the equipment. In addition, the oxygen generator is mobile, uncomplicated and safe to operate.
In addition, soft barotherapy is a much simpler technique that does not require additional equipment, consumables, specially prepared premises and highly specialized personnel. In such pressure chambers, there is no place where oxygen can escape under high pressure, which is fraught with fire hazard and scares a reasonable administrator.
Experimental and clinical studies have shown that moderate oxygenation, in addition to eliminating hypoxia, also has the property of increasing the ability of the cell to antioxidant protection. In healthy people, moderate HBO significantly increases the adaptive capabilities of the body, reduces the risk of diseases. Sessions in the pressure chamber relieve fatigue, restore strength after strenuous work, increase muscle tone, have an anti-stress, restorative and tonic effect, and reduce the adverse effects of polluted atmosphere.
In this regard, the last decades have been marked by the change of hyperoxic to the so-called soft HBO. This is a safer and "soft" technique, which is carried out under much lower pressure than classical HBO (from 1.1 to 1.3 ATA at 30% oxygen concentration, which is almost 1.5 times higher than in the atmosphere, but 3 times less than with classical HBO). For more than 10 years, an extensive clinical evidence-based material has been accumulated, demonstrating not only a positive therapeutic and rehabilitation effect comparable to classical HBO, but also high safety. So, Japanese scientists from the University of Tsukuba conducted a study of the level of free radicals, as a result of which they found that oxygen inhalation under a pressure of 1.3 ATA with a 30% oxygen concentration is safe and is not associated with the development of oxidative stress (before the oxygenation session, the average value of free radicals was 210.6 U. CARR (the norm is 200 ~ 300 U. CARR), after - 201.5 U. CARR). Other Japanese researchers from Gunma University conducted a study of the partial pressure of oxygen (pO2) and carbon dioxide (pCO2) in the arterial blood of healthy people who inhaled oxygen at different concentrations and pressures at rest and when moving. As a result of the experiment, it was found that in subjects who inhaled oxygen with a concentration of 30% and a pressure of 1.3 ATA, the oxygen content in the blood increased almost twice, and pCO2 did not change compared to those who inhaled atmospheric air at normal pressure. Today, mild barotherapy is actively replacing HBO all over the world and is widely used for both preventive (general health improvement, cosmetology, preparation for surgery and anesthesia), rehabilitation (from stopping withdrawal symptoms to restoring physical activity of professional athletes), and therapeutic expediency (treatment of almost all pathological conditions, including strokes and heart attacks)..