OHBOT for the brain
Who it's for

If you were told there was nothing left to try.

Someone handed you a dead end — for your child, yourself, the person you care for — and called it the end of the road. This page is for you. Find the story that sounds like yours, and read what the research actually says.

Parents & families of a brain-injured child

“There’s nothing more we can do.” You heard it. You never believed it.

What you were told
Wait and see. The window has closed. Take them home and love them.
What the research shows
Much of this literature treats chronic injury — patients enrolled one to five years after the event, well past the window for spontaneous recovery — and still measures improvement on objective testing and brain imaging.
Whose story matched yours
Boussi-Gross 2013 — 56 people, 1–5 years post-injury, cognition and quality of life improved with SPECT confirmation. Hadanny 2018 — 154 chronic TBI patients, the largest cohort of its kind, measurable gains at the late chronic stage.
The honest truth
HBOT is not a cure and not a guarantee. It acts on the injury itself, even years later — a real, mechanism-backed option where you were offered none.
Your next step
Take the Evidence page to your child’s neuro team and ask about a 40-session course at 1.5–2.0 ATA. Bring the papers, not just the request.

Concussion & post-concussion survivors

The scans came back “clear.” You are not clear.

What you were told
Rest. It’ll pass. There’s nothing on the imaging, so there’s nothing to treat.
What the research shows
The persistent post-concussion trials are exactly this population — people still symptomatic long after a mild TBI. The strongest study was double-blind and sham-controlled, the design built specifically to rule out placebo.
Whose story matched yours
Harch 2020 — 63 subjects under FDA IND, significant gains in memory, mood, sleep and PTSD, held at follow-up. Weaver 2025 — double-blind, sham-controlled: real oxygen beat sham (mean difference 7.0, 95% CI 1.7–12.3, p = 0.01).
The honest truth
The fog isn’t in your head, and it isn’t necessarily permanent — but response varies, and this is a course of treatment, not a switch.
Your next step
Read How it works, then the Evidence, and raise HBOT with a doctor who treats concussion.

Veterans living with PTSD & blast injury

They filed you under “treatment-resistant.” The brain scans disagreed.

What you were told
You’ve tried the medications and the therapy. This may be as good as it gets.
What the research shows
In 30 veterans with post-concussion syndrome and PTSD, HBOT normalised SPECT brain scans in 75% of abnormal regions, with improved cognition and quality of life — and reduced suicidal ideation and psychoactive-medication use.
Whose story matched yours
Harch 2017 — 30 military veterans. Harch 2020 — military and civilian subjects, run under FDA IND #113823 with US Army human-research approval.
The honest truth
“Treatment-resistant” often means “we’ve run out of things to try.” This is one more thing — measured, imaged, and pointed at the injury underneath the diagnosis.
Your next step
Bring the veteran studies to your care team and ask specifically about the PTSD + concussion protocol. Share the gap with anyone who calls it fringe.

Stroke survivors & their families

A brain starved of oxygen — and a recovery that stalled.

What you were told
Rehab has plateaued. This is the new baseline. Adjust to it.
What the research shows
Stroke is the same class of injury by another route — oxygen deprivation. HBOT’s neuroprotective mechanisms (reduced oedema, angiogenesis, salvage of the penumbra) are well described, and in 2013 the FDA recognised arterial occlusion as an indication.
Whose story matched yours
Ding 2014 — a review of HBOT in acute ischaemic stroke, surveying the mechanisms and the open questions.
The honest truth
This is the most unsettled of the group: dose and timing for stroke are genuinely not resolved. The mechanism is real and the door is officially open — but go in with clear eyes and a specialist.
Your next step
Read the mechanisms, then discuss timing and dosing with a stroke or hyperbaric physician.

Carers, support coordinators & NDIS families

You’re the one still researching after everyone else has stopped.

What you carry
The 3am searching, the appointments, the burden of being the family’s only researcher — and the fear of raising something and being dismissed.
What this gives you
A place where every claim traces to a named, downloadable paper you can hand a clinician. The homework, already done — so you argue from evidence, not memory.
Whose work backs you
All nine papers in the Storehouse, plus a plain-English version to share with the family.
The honest truth
You can’t prescribe it — but you can raise it, informed and calm. That is often exactly what turns a “no” into “let’s look.”
Your next step
Grab the papers and the kitchen-table page; share them with the family and the treating team, and keep a copy for the next appointment.

Anyone who senses “unproven” is doing some work

You already suspect the word isn’t really about the oxygen.

What you noticed
A treatment that keeps getting called “experimental” — while the accepted treatment for the same injury quietly succeeds far less often and is never called that.
What’s actually going on
Oxygen has no patent, so no company funds the definitive multi-centre trial. Blinding a chamber is hard and expensive. And where HBOT is already standard, a placebo arm is considered unethical. “Unproven” is a fact about money and study design — not about the oxygen.
The comparison that lands
Therapeutic hypothermia for the same class of injury gives ~25% relative benefit (NNT ~7) and still leaves ~40–50% dead or disabled — and is standard care. HBOT is held to a higher bar for being newer, not for being weaker.
Your next step
Read The gap in full — then send it to one person who’ll understand it.
Straight answers

The questions people actually ask

No spin. Where the honest answer is “it depends” or “we don’t know yet,” that’s what it says.

Is HBOT real, approved medicine — or fringe?
Real and approved. It’s FDA-recognised standard care for carbon-monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, arterial gas embolism, radiation-injured tissue and non-healing wounds; in 2013 the FDA added arterial occlusion. What’s newer and still contested is its use for brain injury, concussion, PTSD and stroke — which is exactly what this site is about.
Is it safe?
In credentialed chambers it’s generally well tolerated. The most common side effect is middle-ear barotrauma — pressure in the ears, like a plane descent — which is managed by equalising slowly. It is not a substitute for emergency care, and it isn’t for everyone; a hyperbaric physician screens for the small number of contraindications.
Isn’t it too late if the injury was years ago?
That’s the most striking part of the evidence: the trials specifically treated chronic injuries — one to five years old — and still measured improvement, confirmed on brain imaging. “It’s too late now” is not what the research shows.
How many sessions, and at what pressure?
The brain-injury studies typically used around 40 sessions of ~60 minutes, breathing 100% oxygen at 1.5–2.0 ATA. That’s the protocol shape to ask about — your treating physician sets the specifics.
Does it cure brain injury?
No. It is not a cure and not a guarantee. In these studies it produced measurable improvement in injured brains — meaningful, imaged, and real — but response varies from person to person. Anyone promising a cure is overselling it; we won’t.
Where can I get it in Australia, and what does it cost?
Hyperbaric medicine units operate in major hospitals for the approved indications; some private centres offer it more broadly. For off-label brain use, availability and cost vary a great deal, and it often isn’t covered — so ask a hyperbaric physician directly about access, protocol and price before committing.
Then why do some doctors say it doesn’t work?
Because “unproven” has been mistaken for “disproven.” The definitive trial is unfunded (oxygen has no patent), blinding a chamber is hard, and where it’s standard a placebo is unethical — so the trial that would settle it is in nobody’s commercial interest to run. See The gap for the full picture.
Is anything on this page medical advice?
No. It’s educational, and every claim traces to a named paper you can check. Decisions about treatment belong with you and a qualified clinician — bring this evidence to that conversation, don’t let it replace it.
If it moved you, move it

This spreads person to person, not press release to public

Most families never hear that this evidence exists. You can change that for someone this week.

Send it to one person

One parent, one veteran, one carer who was told there was nothing left. Forwarding this page costs you a minute and could change someone’s year.

Raise it once

At the next appointment, ask the question and hand over the papers. You don’t need to win the argument — just open the door.

Join the effort

Add your email and help us get this evidence in front of the families and clinicians who need it. Numbers open doors.

Get involved See the evidence

Someone you know was told to give up hope.

They were told wrong. The least we can do is make sure they hear it — with the evidence in hand.

Start at the beginning Read the kitchen-table version