Diving chamber can relieve pain

SITTIng in a diving chamber is being trialled as a way to manage chronic pain caused by fibromyalgia.

In a trial at Assaf-Harofeh Medical Centre in Israel, 70 patients will be given either 60 daily hyperbaric oxygen sessions of 90 minutes each or the standard drug treatments.

Hyperbaric chambers expose patients to pure oxygen at higherthan-atmospheric pressures, and are used to treat the ‘bends’ from diving.

Experts think fibromyalgia is triggered by abnormalities in the brain that change the way pain messages are carried; it is thought pushing more oxygen into the bloodstream may improve this messaging system.