John Duthie, a fisherman from the Northeast of Scotland experienced chronic increasing (over a 2 week period) and debilitating pain down the right side of his shoulder and arm as well as loss of strength and function in his right hand and fingers.
To help ease the pain, John was proscribed heavy painkillers from the doctor and underwent a few sessions with a chiropractor, unfortunately this did little to ease his discomfort which he described as trying at times. His Chiropractor advised he got an MRI scan to find the cause of his symptoms.
A friend recommended he try hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a form of treatment to help alleviate the pain. Having never heard of HBOT he was naturally sceptical but was prepared to give it a go if it meant there was a chance to reduce the pain.
After more than four weeks of discomfort, John took his first session in an O2 Worx chamber and after four sessions the pain had diminished to the point where he no longer needed the prescription painkillers.
“I couldn’t believe that after only four sessions the pain had diminished to the point where I no longer required the painkillers. It was certainly not what I expected and it’s safe to say that my scepticism of HBOT had gone.”
Although the pain had decreased, the route cause was yet to be fixed and following an MRI scan, it was found that John suffered from nerve and spinal cord compression in his neck at C4, 5 and 6. Muscle atrophy (muscle wasting and thinning) was the cause of John’s suffering creating pins and needles, cramping and pain.
A surgical procedure called a laminectomy on his C4, 5 and 6 was deemed the recommended course of action, however due to commitments and the continued improved results experienced by HBOT, John had the ability to defer the surgery for four months and continued to work.
Following a successful surgery in December, John was told it would be at least six weeks before he could go back to work. As part of his post-surgery regime, he continued with his HBOT sessions to help aid in the recovery process and after only four weeks was back t
o work, fully recovered. His post-surgery physiotherapist deemed his recovery approximately 2-3 weeks ahead of where it should be after such a surgery and John put the speed of recovery down to the continued use of HBOT.
Today, John continues to use O2 Worx chambers as a preventative therapy and comments “I would certainly recommend oxygen therapy as an option to treat chronic pain. I have experienced first-hand the benefits oxygen therapy can bring and thanks to the team at O2 Worx I had the added benefit of not only using the chamber in the shop, but also hired one for home use for a month to help post-surgery recovery”. John also added, “I am now glad to be back playing golf again, a sport I didn’t think I would play again.”
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