Stroke Recovery

Strokes are a highly prevalent condition that are the leading cause of chronic disability, the second leading cause of dementia, and a leading cause of death in New Zealand.

Strokes occur when blood flow to a specific area of the brain is interrupted, or when a blood vessel bursts and causes bleeding in the brain.

Lack of blood flow and/or brain bleeding results in brain cell death and damage, which can lead to cognitive impairments, motor issues, headaches, and vision problems.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been shown to be effective in the late chronic stage of strokes by multiple studies.

After receiving 40-60 HBOT treatments, one study found that 86% of the patients experienced clinically significant improvements in all cognitive domains.

This included memory, executive function, attention, information processing speed, and motor skills.

Additional studies report similar findings of improved ADLs (activities of daily living), brain metabolism, and quality of life.

Brain scans showed that the damaged locations of the brain were significantly healed and reactivated in more than half of the patients.

HBOT improves stroke symptoms by healing brain cells that were initially damaged by the stroke as well as stimulating the growth of new brain cells.

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  13. Improvement of Memory Impairments in Post stroke Patients by Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Boussi-Gross, R., H. Golan, O. Volkov, Y. Bechor, D. Hoofien, M. S. Beeri, E. Ben-Jacob, and S. Efrati. Neuropsychology 29, no. 4 (Jul 2015): 610-21.

  14. The Effect of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Functional Impairments Caused by Ischemic Stroke Rosario, E. R., S. E. Kaplan, S. Khonsari, G. Vazquez, N. Solanki, M. Lane, H. Brownell, and S. S. Rosenberg. Neurol Res Int 2018 (2018): 3172679.

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