How Does Hyperbaric Oxygenation Therapy Work?
Susan Rodriguez, a certified hyperbaric specialist from San Bernardino, California, believes that to understand how HBOT works for RSD, you need to understand the disease itself. “RSD is neurological in nature and yet it manifests itself in physical symptoms,” she says. “What that means is that the disease needs to be treated with two approaches. One goal is to restore circulation, reduce inflammation or edema, and remove the swelling in affected limbs so the limbs can live. The other goal — if you want to eliminate the disease — is to work on the brain.” If you were to stub your toe, for example, the central nervous system would tell your brain that your toe hurts. This pain is rooted in a physical injury. But sometimes trauma and inflammation mysteriously trigger a reaction from the sympathetic nervous system, which is a different part of the brain. With RSD, pain is read through sensors in the sympathetic nervous system. (The sympathetic nervous system is what is activated in phan
