Compression

As part of the therapy to heal my feet I’ve been spending 90 minutes a day in a hyperbaric chamber. This treatment involves 90 minutes in a pressure chamber at 2 atmospheres while breathing pure oxygen and is supposed to increase to amount of oxygen in my system and speed healing of my toes. I was pretty skeptical when I started – the operators make some bold claims about the benefits – but after a couple of weeks of therapy I think it has really helped.

The "Chamber"

Each session starts with selecting a movie to watch during treatment. The chamber has a DVD player, a small video screen in one of the portholes and a little speaker inside so you can watch a movie. Nothing is allowed in the chamber so I have to remove my watch, wedding ring and empty my pockets before climbing in. Once inside I get a couple of blankets and pillows and a bottle of water and get sealed in.

This is not for claustrophobics. Once sealed in the pressure starts to increase causing your ears to pop much like SCUBA diving. It takes about 10 minutes to reach 2 ATM. The increasing pressure causes the temperature of the air in the chamber to rise making it feel nice and warm. During the session I wear a little oxygen mask the whole time to maximize the O2 intake. After 90 minutes at pressure the operator opens a valve and slowly decreases the pressure back to one atmosphere.

Jackson says "welcome back"