Therapy for DCI in a Hyperbaric Chamber
Gentle muscular compression and limb movement while receiving oxygen therapy under pressure seems to make walking easier and lessens the pain for some divers who have experienced decompression illness. This means that not only is the client confined in a hyperbaric chamber under pressure for nearly two hours, the therapist is as well.
We believe this to be a new approach to the treatment of DCI. When we contacted Divers Alert Network (DAN), the worldwide authority of dive safety and medicine, regarding the history of bodywork therapies provided while the client was receiving oxygen therapy under pressure, we were told, to their knowledge, no one had attempted this method of treatment. We were further told that MDs who regularly treated DCI were evenly split on the benefit and safety of massage therapy and bodywork being provided to a diver suffering from DCI directly after experiencing their first symptoms. There seems to be no question as to the benefits to clients who have experienced symptoms for over 72 hours and who have been cleared by their MD for massage therapy and other bodywork.
Therapists attempting this method of treatment are cautioned that there is risk involved in this treatment...both to the client as well as to the therapist, and should only be done under the direct supervision of an experienced MD. In our opinion, therapists should be experienced SCUBA divers before attempting to provide therapy in a pressurized chamber.
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Therapy for DCI under normal atmospheric conditions.
Clients who are outside the 72-hour window and who have been cleared for massage by their MD and who have started to return to normal activities of daily living, greatly benefit from massage therapy and bodywork. Even clients experiencing total paralysis below the chest area have reported very positive results after just one session of massage.
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