Jeremy Renner’s secret weapon for recovery after nearly dying in snowplow accident
Key Takeaways
Industry Buzz
“HBO directly addresses the pathophysiology of long COVID including chronic inflammation, small vessel injury, disrupted neural pathways and mitochondrial dysfunction,” - study researchers in Frontiers in Medicine
Find more of your peers' perspectives and insights below.
“Mayor of Kingstown” actor Jeremy Renner survived a treacherous snow plow accident on two years ago, during which he broke 38 bones in his body.[][] Now, Renner remains dedicated to healing and recovering from the collision.
Related: Two celebrity treatments doctors wish every patient could accessOne treatment that has been a “blessing and absolute champion” in Renner’s recovery—according to the celebrity’s Instagram—is a hyperbaric chamber.[] Hyperbaric chambers are small rooms pumped with 100% oxygen at an elevated pressure higher than that of the earth’s atmosphere.[] The high oxygen and pressure levels in these chambers can promote healing and help repair various types of tissue and organ damage.
How hyperbaric chambers impact the body
Outside of a hyperbaric chamber, the earth’s atmosphere contains about 21% oxygen. According to Penn Medicine, by greatly increasing both the oxygen and pressure levels in the chamber, “20 times more oxygen travels through the body's bloodstream to injured organs and tissue.” This environment helps accelerate healing processes in the body.
Hyperbaric chambers can, according to Penn Medicine, also be used as treatment for tissue damage brought on by a variety of conditions, including:
Injuries from radiation therapy
Bone infections
Skin wounds
Compromised skin flaps and grafts
Diabetes-induced foot and leg wounds
Could it help with long COVID?
Some researchers have also been studying the effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapies on long COVID patients, finding the treatment to be safe and potentially beneficial as an adjunct treatment for the condition.[]
“HBO directly addresses the pathophysiology of long COVID including chronic inflammation, small vessel injury, disrupted neural pathways and mitochondrial dysfunction,” the researchers wrote in the study.[] “HBO may provide benefit to those suffering from long COVID symptoms and should continue to be researched for adjunctive treatment of long COVID.”
Sandra K. Wainwright, MD, Medical Director of the Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Healing at Greenwich Hospital in Greenwich, CT, and an author of the study, stated in a Yale Medicine article that she thinks “HBOT is offering some promising results in many patients, but it is probably a strong adjunctive treatment to the other spectrum of things Long COVID patients should be doing, like participating in an exercise, rehab, and nutritional program.”[]
But while HBO treatments can be helpful to a variety of patients, they are inaccessible for many. One session in a hyperbaric chamber can cost between $250 and $600 per visit (without insurance), and 6-week-long therapy sessions can cost around $60,000, presenting financial barriers.[][]