Hyperbaric oxygen therapy, usually shortened to HBOT, means breathing pure oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. The pressure lets your blood carry more oxygen than it can at normal air pressure. That part is simple. What gets confusing is the gap between the uses regulators recognize and the much longer list of things a chamber is marketed for.

What it is recognized for

In the United States, the FDA and the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society recognize about fourteen uses. They include decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, diabetic foot wounds that will not heal, and tissue damage after radiation. MedlinePlus has a short overview of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in a hospital setting.

Clinics also offer HBOT off-label for concussion, long COVID, and athletic recovery. For those uses the evidence is still mixed. The useful question for a clinic is which indication you are being treated for, and what the studies show for that indication specifically.

How often, and for how long

For the recognized medical uses, the standard protocol is one session a day, five days a week, for twenty to forty sessions. Each session lasts sixty to ninety minutes at about two atmospheres of pressure. Wellness centers that use soft chambers run at lower pressure, around 1.3 atmospheres, and often suggest two or three sessions a week.

Frequency depends on the indication and on the prescriber. A clinic that sells single sessions for a chronic condition should be able to explain why. Our guide to hyperbaric oxygen therapy explains the difference between hard and soft chambers and the terms you will hear in a consultation.

What a session costs

Price follows the chamber and the setting. Cash-pay sessions in a mild soft chamber at a wellness clinic are typically published at $150 to $300. Hard-chamber sessions at medical centers are often billed at several hundred dollars to over a thousand, and for a recognized indication, insurance or Medicare usually covers them.

Many clinics discount packages of ten to forty sessions. Ask for the total program cost in writing, including the assessment and any cancellation terms. A single-session price tells you very little.

Who should not go in a chamber

The one absolute contraindication is an untreated collapsed lung, because pressure changes can make it worse. Relative contraindications include:

  • some lung diseases

  • recent ear or sinus surgery

  • a high fever

  • pregnancy

  • uncontrolled seizures

  • past treatment with certain chemotherapy drugs, such as doxorubicin or bleomycin

Claustrophobia matters too. A careful clinic screens for all of these before the first session and asks about your medications as well as your symptoms.

Finding a provider

To compare providers, the Regenerated.com directory lists clinics that offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy across the US. A listing describes what a clinic says it offers and is not a medical endorsement, so bring the questions above to the consultation. It also helps to know how to read a clinic listing before you book.

From the Regenerated.com editorial team.