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Health: The oxygen zone
SEEKING TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS: Manager Jo Goodwin inside a hyperbaric chamber at the West Yorkshire Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre in Rawdon.
It looks like something out of a science fiction film.
However for some people with various medical conditions, spending time inside this metal chamber has proved to have amazing results.
The hyperbaric oxygen chamber, one of two at the West Yorkshire MS Therapy Centre in Rawdon, Leeds, allows users to breathe pure oxygen under atmospheric pressure. It’s the same theory as the equipment used to help divers recover from decompression sickness, or the bends, but the pressure is not as great. Being inside the therapy chambers is equivalent to doing a shallow dive.
The benefits of oxygen therapy for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) were first discovered following research in New York in the 1980s. Further trials have been carried out since, and while some have discovered there were no obvious benefits, other patients have reported positive improvements.
They theory behind the therapy is that breathing pure oxygen in that environment enriches the oxygen content of the blood, delivering more to damaged nerves, reducing swelling and promoting healing.
Enriches
As well as people with MS, it has also been found to help other conditions, including autism, stroke, cerebral palsy and radiation burns, as well as sporting injuries to muscles and joints.
It isn’t provided on the NHS for MS, so centres offering it around the country are run independently – though they are regulated. Regular inspections check for safety and medical and technical advisors can deal with queries.
The Leeds centre has been running for 29 years and has treated thousands of patients.
Manager Joanne Goodwin said: “In the oxygen chambers you are breathing oxygen under pressure.
“Patients wear a mask and breathe normally and that’s how they access the oxygen.
“We can see and hear the patients all the time and we control the pressure, so it’s completely safe.”
The metal chambers can seat six people, who spend around an hour under pressure, breathing pure oxygen through masks, or hoods for youngsters.
Joanne said the results differed for everyone but there were many success stories from centre users.
“It’s mostly anecdotal evidence with MS,” she said.
“Results are so different with everybody, everyone will find how it suits them and how it works for them.”
Other patients who have had strokes, with diabetic ulcers or who are going through cancer treatments have also used the treatment in Leeds. Success has also been seen in patients with autism and cerebral palsy.
Last month the Yorkshire Evening Post reported how five year-old Jordan Cortez, from Woodhouse, Leeds, had said “mama” for the first time after sessions in the chamber.
The youngster, who has autism, has improved dramatically, now responding to his name, keeping eye contact and beginning to communicate.
People come from all over the north to the centre as the next nearest facility is in South Yorkshire, and some patients have even travelled from much further afield.
“We have a child come from Norway and patients from Malta and Italy,” Joanne said.
“One little boy used to repeat one word, then after a few sessions started to formulate words and could make eye contact.”
Stars
And they’ve also treated sports stars from Leeds United, Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls. Famously, Manchester United bought a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to help Wayne Rooney recover from injury before the 2006 World Cup.
Patients come for a series of sessions, with the frequency depending on their condition. Physiotherapy and complementary therapies are also on offer.
The centre, which is run as a charity, has five members of staff and many other volunteers, with fundraising needed on an ongoing basis to keep it up and running. Treatment is free though patients are asked to make a donation.
Joanne said they had found it more difficult to raise the £130,000 needed each year to keep the centre going.
Women’s organisation Soroptimist International of Aireborough has been fundraising for the centre, with a recent fashion show with clothes from Leeds firm TweedandCountry.co.uk helping to boost the coffers.
But the charity is hoping to improve the centre and needs more donations.
“Due to the economic climate we have seen donations dry up and supermarket collections, once our mainstay, have all but ceased to be available,” Joanne said.
“We need several improvements to the centre for the wellbeing of our members, but without support and donations we will not be able to carry them out.”
* For more information on the centre, visit: www.mstherapy.org.uk
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