Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
More oxygen, more healing, more life. HBOT helps patients heal faster by delivering pure oxygen to areas of injury, inflammation, and reduced circulation.
HyperO2 Solutions by Busch Chiropractic — Fort Wayne's destination for advanced hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
More Oxygen. More Healing. More Life.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy at The Busch Chiropractic Center in Fort Wayne delivers concentrated oxygen under elevated pressure to accelerate healing throughout the body. It's one of the most powerful supportive therapies for patients dealing with chronic conditions, slow-healing injuries or neurological recovery.
The core principle is simple: oxygen is the foundation of cellular repair. Every healing process in your body depends on having enough oxygen reaching the right tissues at the right time. In many chronic conditions and injuries, circulation is impaired, inflammation is elevated, and the tissues that need oxygen most are getting the least of it. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy solves that problem at the source.
How HBOT Works
During treatment, you rest comfortably inside a pressurized chamber while breathing pure or highly concentrated oxygen. The increased pressure does something remarkable: it allows oxygen to dissolve directly into your blood plasma, lymph fluid, and even cerebrospinal fluid — bypassing the normal limits of red-blood-cell oxygen transport. That dissolved oxygen reaches deep into tissues that ordinary breathing simply can't supply, including the spinal cord and brain.
The increased oxygen supply produces a cascade of powerful biological effects:
- Boosts white blood cell count and immune function — helping the body fight bacteria, viruses, and chronic infections
- Reduces systemic inflammation — addressing one of the root drivers of chronic pain and disease
- Increases stem cell production by up to 8-fold — mobilizing your body's own regenerative cells to areas that need repair
- Repairs nerve endings — supporting recovery from neuropathy, injury, and neurological conditions
- Promotes new blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) — establishing better circulation in areas that have been chronically under-supplied
- Activates more than 8,000 individual genes responsible for healing, growth, and anti-inflammation
The breadth of HBOT's effects is one reason it helps such a wide range of conditions — it works on the foundational cellular processes that all healing depends on.
Conditions HBOT Can Help
HBOT has been studied and applied successfully for an extensive list of conditions where traditional medicine often falls short:
- Arthritis and chronic joint inflammation
- Diabetic wound healing — including non-healing foot ulcers
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-concussion syndrome
- Chronic fatigue syndrome
- Alzheimer's, dementia, and cognitive decline support
- Parkinson's disease
- PTSD and trauma recovery
- Autism spectrum support
- Multiple sclerosis
- Autoimmune disorders — including lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and others
- Lyme disease and post-treatment Lyme syndrome
- Long-COVID and post-viral recovery
- Athletic injury and surgical recovery
- Stroke recovery
- Slow-healing wounds and tissue injuries
If your condition isn't on this list, that doesn't mean HBOT can't help — it just means we need to look at your individual case to know.
Inside Our Hyperbaric Chamber
Frequently Asked Questions
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is a non-invasive treatment in which you breathe pure or highly concentrated oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. The combination of higher pressure and elevated oxygen allows your blood plasma to dissolve and carry dramatically more oxygen than under normal conditions — delivering it deep into tissues, including areas with poor circulation, inflammation, or injury where ordinary breathing simply can't reach.
Under normal atmospheric pressure, oxygen is mostly carried by red blood cells. Inside the HBOT chamber, the increased pressure dissolves oxygen directly into the plasma, lymph, and cerebrospinal fluid — flooding tissues with the raw material they need to heal. This drives a cascade of beneficial effects: stem cell mobilization (up to an 8-fold increase), reduced inflammation, accelerated tissue repair, new blood vessel formation, and the activation of more than 8,000 genes involved in healing, growth, and anti-inflammation.
Comfortable and relaxing. You lie inside a clear chamber while pressure is gradually increased — most patients describe a brief ear pressure change similar to flying or descending in a car, which is easy to equalize. From there, you simply breathe normally for the duration of the session. Many patients read, listen to music, watch shows, nap, or just rest. There's no needles, no medication, and no discomfort.
Typical sessions run 60–90 minutes, including the pressurization and depressurization phases. We work with you to schedule sessions at times that fit your life — many patients come during a lunch break, before or after work, or first thing in the morning.
It depends on what you're treating. Acute issues sometimes resolve in a handful of sessions. Chronic conditions, recovery from concussion, and complex cases often require a series of 20–40 sessions for full benefit. We build a personalized plan after your initial evaluation and re-examine progress regularly so the plan continues to fit you, not the average patient.
HBOT has been studied or applied successfully for a wide range of conditions including diabetic wound healing, traumatic brain injury and concussion recovery, chronic fatigue, neurodegenerative conditions, PTSD, autism spectrum support, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune disorders, arthritis, Lyme disease, post-COVID symptoms, and recovery from surgery or athletic injury. Not every condition responds the same way, which is why we evaluate each patient individually.
Yes — HBOT has an excellent safety record. Side effects are rare and typically minor (mild ear discomfort during pressurization, temporary visual changes with extended courses, occasional fatigue after sessions). Serious complications are extremely uncommon when treatment is supervised properly. A medical evaluation before starting treatment screens for the small number of conditions that contraindicate HBOT.
HBOT isn't appropriate for patients with untreated pneumothorax (collapsed lung), certain types of ear or sinus problems, and a few specific medications and medical conditions. We screen carefully during your initial consultation to make sure HBOT is safe for you. If it isn't, we'll tell you honestly and help you understand your other options.
Dramatically different. Oxygen concentrators at home deliver oxygen at normal atmospheric pressure, which gives modest benefit primarily to people with lung disease. HBOT combines high oxygen concentration with elevated pressure — and it's the pressure that allows oxygen to dissolve into plasma and reach tissues that simple breathing can't. The physiological effects are not comparable.
Many patients with persistent post-concussive symptoms or long-COVID symptoms have responded very well to HBOT, particularly when treatment is started while symptoms are still active. The therapy supports the inflammation reduction and tissue repair processes that are often delayed in these conditions. We evaluate each patient individually to determine if and how HBOT fits into their recovery plan.
Yes — HBOT is increasingly used as an adjunct to surgical recovery, athletic injury, and post-traumatic healing. The accelerated tissue repair, reduced inflammation, and supported blood vessel formation all translate into faster, more complete recovery. Patients have used HBOT to support recovery from orthopedic surgery, soft-tissue injury, slow-healing wounds, and athletic injuries.
Yes, with appropriate evaluation. HBOT is used in pediatric care for specific conditions including certain neurodevelopmental concerns, post-concussion recovery, and complex healing situations. We work with pediatricians and other specialists to coordinate care, and the chambers and protocols are adjusted appropriately for younger patients.
Many of our patients combine HBOT with other treatments — particularly the DRS Protocol® for disc-related back pain, the Neuropathy Treatment Protocol™ for nerve recovery, or chiropractic care for general musculoskeletal health. The therapies are highly complementary because each addresses healing from a different angle. We coordinate scheduling and treatment design so the components reinforce one another.
Many patients report broader improvements during and after a course of HBOT — better sleep, more energy, sharper cognitive function, faster recovery from workouts, and a general sense of feeling more like themselves. These secondary benefits reflect HBOT's broad effects on circulation, inflammation, and cellular function.
