Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is everywhere in Los Angeles right now — wellness spas, recovery studios, med spas, standalone oxygen bars. Prices range wildly, and so does what you actually get. Before you book a session anywhere, there's one question that matters more than any other: is the chamber hard shell or soft shell?
Hyperbaric therapy works by pressurizing the air around you so your body can absorb significantly more oxygen than it does at sea level. How much more depends entirely on how much pressure the chamber can generate — measured in atmospheres absolute (ATA).
Soft shell chambers — the inflatable, zip-up style you'll find at most wellness spas and recovery studios — typically max out around 1.3 ATA. That's a mild bump over normal atmospheric pressure.
Hard shell chambers, like the OxyHelp system we run at BodyPro, reach a true 2.0 ATA — twice normal atmospheric pressure. The higher the pressure, the more oxygen gets driven into your blood plasma and delivered deep into tissue. That's the whole point of the therapy, and it's why the chamber type matters as much as the therapy itself.
Both types get marketed as "hyperbaric oxygen therapy," usually at similar-looking session prices. A soft shell session isn't worthless — many people find it relaxing — but if you're using HBOT to support recovery from a sports injury, surgery, or chronic inflammation, the pressure level is what determines how much oxygen actually reaches the tissue you're trying to help. Paying spa prices for 1.3 ATA when you needed 2.0 ATA is the most common mistake we see people make with this therapy.
Most soft shell setups are self-serve — you're zipped in and left alone. At BodyPro, every session is clinically overseen: you're screened for health history and contraindications before your first session, and your chamber plan is built around what you're actually recovering from, alongside the rest of your care. Our chamber is also a private two-person suite with a TV, not a tube — sessions run 60 to 90 minutes and most patients describe leaving feeling relaxed and energized.
We publish our pricing so you can compare directly: a single session is $200, a 3-pack is $570 ($190 per session), a 5-pack is $900 ($180 per session), and a 10-pack is $1,700 ($170 per session). That's hard shell, 2.0 ATA, clinically supervised — at or below what many soft shell providers charge.
Ask any provider two questions before you book: what ATA does the chamber reach, and who oversees the session? If the answer to the first is "around 1.3" and the answer to the second is "you do," you know what you're buying.
Ready to try the real thing? Learn more on our hyperbaric oxygen therapy page or contact our team to schedule a session in our hard shell chamber, right on Santa Monica Boulevard.
