Watch what elite athletes do in the hours after competition and you'll notice something: the work doesn't stop when the game ends. Ice, compression, soft tissue work — and increasingly, time in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. HBOT has quietly become a fixture in pro locker rooms and training facilities, and at BodyPro Chiropractic & Sports Medicine we've brought that same tool to Santa Monica.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) means breathing concentrated oxygen inside a pressurized chamber. Under pressure, your blood plasma can carry significantly more oxygen than it does at normal atmospheric conditions — and that oxygen-rich environment is what athletes are after when they use HBOT to support their recovery between training sessions and competitions.
The pressure level matters. Our chamber is a hard shell OxyHelp system running at a true 2.0 ATA — twice normal atmospheric pressure. Most of the soft shell chambers you'll find at wellness spas and recovery studios max out around 1.3 ATA. That difference is the difference between a genuine therapeutic-grade session and something closer to a nap in a tent.
Having treated athletes at two Olympic Games, multiple World Athletics Championships, and across the NFL, MLB, and NBA, I can tell you the athletes who last the longest treat recovery as seriously as training. Here's why HBOT has earned a place in that routine:
Supporting the healing environment. Hard training creates microtrauma — that's how adaptation works. Recovery is where the gains actually happen, and oxygen is central to every tissue-repair process in the body. HBOT sessions are used by athletes to support that environment while the body does its work.
Managing training load and soreness. Athletes in heavy blocks — two-a-days, back-to-backs, travel weeks — use chamber time as part of managing accumulated soreness and fatigue, alongside sleep, nutrition, and soft tissue care.
It stacks with everything else. HBOT isn't a replacement for treatment — it's a multiplier on a complete program. At BodyPro, chamber sessions sit alongside chiropractic care, Piezowave/shockwave therapy, and Tecar therapy under one roof. Many of our athletes pair shockwave and HBOT as a recovery stack: shockwave stimulates the injured tissue, and the chamber supports the healing environment around it.
Our chamber seats two in a private suite with a TV. Sessions run 60 to 90 minutes: you settle in, pressure builds gradually — a mild ear-pressure sensation similar to a plane taking off — and then you relax, watch something, or sleep. No needles, no downtime. Most patients describe leaving feeling calm and energized, and they head straight back into their day.
Every session is clinically overseen — this is not a self-serve spa chamber. You're screened before your first session, and your chamber plan is built around what you're actually recovering from, the same way we'd program any other part of your care.
The same reasons athletes use HBOT apply to everyone else walking through our door: the weekend warrior managing a stubborn soft tissue issue, the post-surgical patient working back to full strength, the executive who treats recovery and longevity as an investment. A series of sessions is typically recommended over a single visit, and we'll help you build a plan after your first session.
BodyPro is one of the only sports medicine offices on the Westside with a hard shell 2.0 ATA chamber — the same class of equipment the pros use, integrated with a full sports medicine practice. Learn more on our hyperbaric oxygen therapy page or contact our team to schedule your first session in Santa Monica.
