The first steps on the journey to reaping the benefits of hyperbaric wellness involve understanding what your needs are. Assuming the wellness benefits and the availability of hyperbaric solutions for personal, in-home or small clinic use are well-understood, what are the next, more practical steps?
Clearly there are differences between personal and clinical use of hyperbaric chambers. In a clinical or medical setting, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is indicated for medical conditions, such as severe anemia, arterial gas embolism (air bubbles in the blood), decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, skin and bone infections, chronic/non-healing wounds, traumatic brain injury, among many other conditions.
The body, and all its organs, requires a consistent and adequate oxygen supply to function, and any of the conditions listed above require an additional boost of oxygen to your blood. This is what hyperbaric treatment delivers: it elevates the amount of oxygen your blood can carry to help the healing process.
Personal use of hyperbaric chambers requires different considerations, even if hyperbaric wellness benefits extend to non-clinical settings. Increased oxygen in the blood and organs can contribute to faster recovery; improved circulation and better oxygen penetration means faster healing and recovery, less swelling, and a better overall sense of well-being.
Portable, personal hyperbaric solutions: Practical considerations
A commonly asked question customers ask when confronted by the many different options for hyperbaric is: How do I choose my own portable hyperbaric solution?
There are a few angles from which to approach this question, and the answers should ultimately inform the hyperbaric chamber choice.
Function and ease of use
From a functional standpoint, all portable OxyHealth hyperbaric chambers offer the same wellness, safety and convenience benefits. Discussing with a professional how the chamber will be used, and by whom, can narrow down the choice.
For most users of private hyperbaric chambers, ease of use is important. Users will want to be able to operate the chamber themselves when they are home alone without requiring outside help, meaning that they should be engineered and constructed to operate safely and easily from inside the chamber.
Similarly, the chamber should be as easy as plug-and-play to assemble, and be ready to use quickly. As an individual or small business, assembling apparatus isn’t what you want to spend your time doing. It’s important to do your homework to find out how easy your hyperbaric chamber can be put together and know that there is live end-to-end customer service from the seller and manufacturer when you do make a purchase. Find out where the chamber is actually manufactured, about the materials used, construction and different parts of your chamber, such as compressor filtration systems, zippers, the frame, valves, etc. to know what parts are important, and whether they are covered by warranty.
Users and use
What hyperbaric chamber suits your needs will be determined by how and by whom it will be used.
For example, how many people will use the chamber? This will dictate the size and type of chamber you should look at. Will it be for personal use in an in-home setting or within a small, commercial wellness center setting? How many people do you need to accommodate at once eg. parent and child? Elderly with a caretaker? And how easy will the chamber be to operate, clean and maintain? For example, in a professional setting, a larger chamber makes sense because it can easily accommodate more than one person, people of all sizes and ability levels, and provides a more spacious environment for the user.
Other user considerations include whether children will be using the chamber as they need to be accompanied, whether individuals with health conditions will be using the chamber, etc.
Budget
Hyperbaric chambers are available across a wide price range, making hyperbaric wellness affordable at a number of different budget levels. It’s important to figure out how much you can afford to invest balanced against what you need the chamber for. That is, if multiple people will use it, particularly in professional environments, budgeting for the higher-end, more spacious option maximizes your resources.
Space and portability
One major consideration for both private, in-home hyperbarics and in a fitness or wellness center setting is the portability and compactness of the chamber you select.
Do you have multiple homes? Do you intend to travel with your chamber? Is it compact and lightweight enough for you to take on the road?
Do you have limited space for setup and/or storage? Will your chosen hyperbaric chamber fit in the space you’ve designated for it? Know the size of the space where you plan to put the chamber, and know the dimensions of the chamber to make sure it’s a good fit.
Understanding the space in which you plan to use a hyperbaric chamber is a key selection criterion.
Customer care and guarantees
Make sure that your hyperbaric chamber supplier offers comprehensive, end-to-end customer care and support. You should be able to easily assemble, disassemble or troubleshoot any issues with your chamber, but if there are ever any questions or problems, there should be a human you can easily contact to quickly get answers or help.
By extension, your hyperbaric chamber supplier should offer a robust warranty scheme for parts and labor in case anything goes wrong.
The experience of purchasing, assembling and using your hyperbaric chamber should give you end-to-end peace of mind, so be sure that you are comfortable with the product and the support you’re given before and after you start your wellness journey.
