Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) is a recurring and severe condition reported to impact the standard of health of 2 to 4 percent of the people, having a 9:1 women to men prevalence rate. FMS has been the second most prevalent condition, behind osteoarthritis, identified by primary care doctors.
Moreover, FMS is a chronic condition frequently linked with musculoskeletal disorders, tiredness, non-restorative sleeping, including other issues that impair emotion and concentration. It strikes roughly 10 million adults in the U.S.
Prolonged painful conditions, like Fibromyalgia, are caused by a faulty neural network. Fibromyalgia isn't hereditary. Manifestations gradually evolve frequently from environmental stimuli such as diseases, significant injury, or psychosocial circumstances.
Unfortunately, it is sometimes complex and hard to establish what exactly causes the disease to occur.
Impacts of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on FMS Episodes and Neural Activity
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) researchers confirm it as a possible form of treatment for FMS pain problems in the pursuit of non-pharmaceutical alternatives.
Fibromyalgia does not affect your muscles or ligaments directly; instead, it alters how neurons perceive and convey pain signals to the brain.
As a result, pain receptors are significantly lower, making effective therapy more difficult. With a lack of physical treatment, like tendon repair, the conventional solution is to alleviate these illnesses with medications.
Non-prescription pain medications, on the other hand, are insufficiently potent to give adequate relief. Pharmaceutical pain medications, especially opioids, lose efficacy with time and have a slew of additional dangers, not just the worst of it -- which is drug abuse.
The degree of chronic pain is defined through monitoring the relevant sensors at the source of the discomfort. Plus, the interpretation of that sensory information.
A comparative of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of FMS patients and physically fit participants indicated an increase in activity in the brainstem after using HBOT as a form of treatment for Fibromyalgia. It also shows decreased activities in brain parts that process pain.
The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) is an independent agency tasked with collecting, assessing, and summarizing clinical studies into novel medications and medical equipment. They have released thorough research on HBOT as a promising pain treatment in patients.
In the clinical study with dynamic response and crossover design, participants were randomly allocated to two groups; treatment or crossover. Individuals in the treatment group were assessed pre-and-post HBOT.
Moreover, the individuals of the crossover-control category are examined three times. Once at the start, once during a no-treatment test cycle, and once after the therapy.
Physical exam, involving sensitivity point count and pain tolerance, detailed assessment of health and wellbeing, and SPECT imaging to evaluate brain activity were all part of the tests.
Numerous studies also show that HBOT can enhance FMS patients' symptoms and improve the standard of living. Furthermore, their findings indicate that HBOT can initiate neuroplasticity and dramatically correct aberrant brain activity within FMS patients' pain-related regions.
HBOT's impact on oxygenation increases the amount of oxygen in a patient's circulation, then transports it to the nervous system. Previous studies discovered that HBOT causes neuroplasticity, which leads to the restoration of persistently damaged brain functions and better outcomes in patients with post-stroke or mild brain injury, potentially years after their previous injury.
These data support the notion that HBOT is a successful, quick, and safe way to treat different FM manifestations. Although the CADTH research reveals that the economic advantages of HBOT are unknown, they are less ambiguous than prescription pain relievers. Furthermore, they also claimed that HBOT is safer than other methods.
Takeaway
Due to the limited time of the trials on HBOT treatment, more rigorous studies should be required to investigate the possibilities and substantiate the findings. However, the findings of the initial studies presented above already show the promising results of HBOT.
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