Another cornerstone therapy we use at the clinic is hyperbaric oxygen (HBOT).This treatment works by flooding the body with oxygen, which eradicates bacteria and potential infections, encourages the growth of new blood vessels, and promotes tissue regeneration. It's safe, noninvasive, and effective for everything from sprains and strains to recovery from plastic surgery.
HBOT happens to be a personal favorite of mine. A number of years ago, I sprained my ankle pretty badly paying squash. It swelled up like a grapefruit, turned purple, and hurt like the dickens. After a few hourly sessions in the hyperbaric chamber, the inflammation and pain diminished dramatically. Rather than being benched for two to three weeks, I was back to my old self in about seven days.
I'm not the only "athlete" who takes advantage of HBOT. Minnesota Vikings safety Darren Sharper reportedly sleeps in a hyperbaric chamber to speed recovery time from injuries. And Terrel Owens is said to have used hyperbaric oxygen in conjunction with the next therapy we'll discuss to rapidly heal a broken ankle in time to play in the 2005 Super Bowl.
Microcurrent Therapy Relieves Pain
Microcurrent therapy, also called frequency specific microcurrent, is yet another effective treatment. This therapy uses very low-frequency currents that are customized to specific tissue types. When placed over the targeted area, these tiny currents help reduce sensitivity and inflammation, often resulting in profound pain relief. Microcurrent has demonstrated success in the treatment of tendonitis, fibromyalgia, and all types of musculoskeletal injuries.
As I mentioned earlier, Terrell Owens credits microcurrent (along with HBOT and a few other alternative therapies) for helping him get back in playing shape. One of my staff members also reported marked pain relief after she was tweaked her hip lifting weights. After just a few sessions of microcurrent therapy, her discomfort disappeared.
Harnessing the Power of Light
You've probably heard me sing the praises of infrared light and its amazing restorative and healing powers. It works by delivering specific wavelengths of light painlessly through the skin. This invisible light generates the production of nitric oxide (NO), which, in turn, boosts blood flow, reduces inflammation and pain, and speeds the recovery of soft-tissue injuries.
Infrared light therapy is ideal for sprains and strains, but it also has a remarkable track record for relieving chronic pain and older injuries. Vietnam veteran Tom Ryan suffered for nearly 40 years with debilitating pain in his right arm and left leg caused by injuries he sustained in combat. Multiple surgeries couldn't correct the problem and it wasn't until he came to the clinic for a course of infrared light therapy that his pain began to subside. After treatment he said, "I'm totally pain free. It's almost as if I've been given a second chance at life."
HOT& Cold-Water Therapy Can Produce CURES, that are NOT Possible with Herbs ALONE!
COLD Water STIMULATES and HOT Water RELAXES! Together, They are like a Hydrostatic Pump, that makes Blood FLOW! Circulation produces CURES! Herbs can NOT CURE, if the Blood can NOT CIRCULATE! This should be called, "the First Law of Natural Healing", so it would be good to memorize it!
HOT & COLD Water Therapy can bring about better CIRCULATION, because the HOT Water STIMULATES Blood Flow to the SURFACE of the body, while the COLD water STIMULATES Blood Flow to the CORE of the body, thus bringing FRESH Blood to the organs and glands and ALL parts of the body! In other words, OXYGEN & NUTRIENTS IN + TOXINS & PATHOGENS OUT!
HOT & COLD WATER Therapy is so POWERFUL, that Cancer tumors can shrink by HALF in only 4 hours! So if you AVOID HOT & COLD Water Therapy, because of timidness, you are CHEATING yourself out of a cure.
I've talked about whole-body vibration training (WBVT) in the past. "I'll be doing an update on WBVT shortly, but, in a nutshell, it works this way: Vibrations at a specific frequency first stretch the muscle, which triggers a reflex contraction. This happens 25-50 times a second-stretch, contract, stretch, and contract. The involuntary contractions increase muscle strength. The subsequent force of the muscles pulling on the bone also adds bone mass. By assuming various positions while standing on a vibrating plate, different muscle groups are "exercised"."
"WBVT is an excellent, safe, and effective way to increase strength, bone, and muscle mass, balance, and flexibility. I particularly like the fact that it is simple and easy enough for practically anyone to use, but it can also be used for more advanced exercises if one desires. Either way the benefits can be profound."
Although vibration doesn't appear to remove fat cells, the latest research in both animals and humans indicates that simply standing on a platform, vibrating at the right frequency, causes the formation of more bone mass and less fat. Fat, muscle, and bone are formed from the same variety of stem cell. It appears that certain vibrations cause the creation of bone rather than fat, possibly in an effort to stabilize the body from the vibrational stress.
When compared to those not using the therapy, mice placed on a vibrating platform for only 15 minutes a day, five days a week had an increase of bone marrow stem cell production of 37%, suppressed production of belly fat of 28%, and an increase in bone volume in their legs of 11 percent.
In a similar clinical study of a group of women with osteopenia (the first step of osteoporosis when bone begins to thin), the use of vibrational therapy 15 min. a day for 5 days a week resulted in an increase in spinal bone mass and kept the amount of belly fat the same. Women not using the vibration showed a continued loss of spinal bone and increased gain of belly fat. (J Bone miner Res08;Aug 20[E-pub])
Lymphatic Drainage
You could probably label the effects of WBV as a "mechanical message" when it comes to lymphatic drainage. Without any outside effort, the thousand of muscle contractions taking place pump the lymphatic fluid out of the area, reducing fluid buildup-resulting in a localized detoxification process and a lessening of the load on the immune system.