Nitrox diving = faster healing?

[Kksmama]

I injured my back in June, just by falling asleep watching TV in a propped position. I don't know how that did so much damage, but after the acute phase treated with muscle relaxants, NSAIDS, and physical therapy I still had significant pain which I've been treating most days with Aleve. I'd recently quit PT and was thinking I'd have to have an MRI or further diagnostics, though regular stretching seems beneficial.

But the best thing I've done for myself since this happened was to go diving. I felt the injury during some dives and took Aleve, but the morning after our Keys weekend was over I woke up completely pain free. The last dives we did were long and shallow (lobstering), and all 6 dives over three days were on Nitrox (including Duane and Spiegal Grove). Today I feel the injury a little, but I think that I'm several steps closer to fully healed than I was last Friday.

I'm wondering if the increased partial pressure of oxygen helped speed healing? Should I dive again, soon, for medicinal purposes? :blinking: Would such a trip be a tax deductible medical expense?

 

[Wookie]

My guess (truly a guess) is that the nitrox had nothing to do with it, and the pain reduction was from reducing the weight pressure on your back. If you really want to know, when the pain returns, go hang out in a hot tub, or swimming pool.

 

[boulderjohn]

OK, this is not any kind of an argument or definitive statement since I don't think we (and especially I) know a lot about this. this is just food for thought.

Many ailments are treated using hyperbaric treatments in high O2 settings. When a friend of mine got DCS, he was joined in the chamber by a host of people being treated for other ailments under the theory that it was good for them to be under pressure in an oxygen rich environment.

When Bill Romanowski played for the Broncos, he was famous for having his own chamber, and he underwent treatments after every game in which he was under pressure in a high O2 environment under the theory that he healed faster from the damage done to his body during the game.

Just saying....

 

[Wookie]

OK, this is not any kind of an argument or definitive statement since I don't think we (and especially I) know a lot about this. this is just food for thought.

Many ailments are treated using hyperbaric treatments in high O2 settings. When a friend of mine got DCS, he was joined in the chamber by a host of people being treated for other ailments under the theory that it was good for them to be under pressure in an oxygen rich environment.

When Bill Romanowski played for the Broncos, he was famous for having his own chamber, and he underwent treatments after every game in which he was under pressure in a high O2 environment under the theory that he healed faster from the damage done to his body during the game.

Just saying....

Sure, 100% O2 at 60 feet for 20 minutes with a 5 minute air break aids in healing. 32% at 20 feet chasing lobsters, not so much.

 

[boulderjohn]

Sure, 100% O2 at 60 feet for 20 minutes with a 5 minute air break aids in healing. 32% at 20 feet chasing lobsters, not so much.

Yes, but what does "not so much" mean?

 

[Kksmama]

I don't think the water by itself is what helped, I'd been in my home pool (88 degrees thanks to solar heat) and the hotel hot tub, and didn't feel that kind of relief. But of course it is possible that my healing would have accelerated during the weekend without diving, or even that the excellent food at Num Thai made a difference. The amount of O2 exposure would be much less than on a chamber trip...but I'm not sure it was negligible over the course of the weekend. In fact, my story is that diving is good for my health, and I'm sticking to it!

 

[TSandM]

There really isn't any literature that supports hyperbaric oxygen treatment for back pain. But I agree with you -- when my back is bothering me, diving seems to help, which is not what you would expect from hauling a whole bunch of heavy gear around. I think it's the relaxation, personally.

 

[DandyDon]

Glad you're feeling better. My thinking is more inline with Wookie's: Being weightless while gently exercising and often horizontal sounds great helpful for a strained back.

Breathing 32% Nitrox instead of 21% means your respiratory system was indeed exposed to 50% higher Oxygen rate, but I seriously doubt it made any difference. It lowered your Nitrogen exposure as designed. It might be different if you increased the O2 ration by 5 times = 400% more = 100% Oxygen but I am not aware of any real science to support hat for a back injury.

 

[PatW]

Well Oxygen is carried to your tissues by the hemoglobin in the blood. Adding more oxygen to air, even at sea level does not help get more O2 into the hemoglobin. The hemoglobin is already something like 99.9% saturated in air at sea level. For the oxygen in the enriched air at pressure to have any effect, it would have to work by diffusion. Diffusion is a pretty slow process. Also, since tissues consume oxygen, the little extra 02 would probably be consumed.

I think that Dandy Don's explanation is the most plausible. The gently exercising while horizontal in a zero gee environment in water is probably doing it. It is different than a pool. Unlike swimming, with scuba you are bringing your own air supply so you have a different range of motions.

 

[knotical]

Every time we dive we are exposed to hyperbaric oxygen. As Don pointed out, Nitrox simply changes the degree of exposure.

But if it seemed to work for you, by all means do it again. Good luck on the write-off, though.