HBOT Conversations:
Dr. Paul Harch & Birth Injuries/ Cerebral Palsy
Dr. Paul G. Harch, M.D. has used hyperbaric oxygen therapy to treat more than 100 different conditions, including stroke, dementia, autism, and traumatic brain injury. His goal is to help his patients get their lives back using hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
He is the author of The Oxygen Revolution and is considered an International expert and pioneer in the field of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). His informative, and comprehensive guide on HBOT has helped countless souls better understand what HBOT is and how it directly affects the body at the genetic level.
This episode on birth injuries with a strong focus on Cerebral Palsy (CP) is the fifth in a nine episode series that will be released weekly with Dr. Harch.
Watch the Podcast
In episode 5 of 9, host Edward di Girolamo speaks with world renowned HBOT expert, Dr. Paul G. Harch about birth injuries and Cerebral Palsy (Chapter 5 of his book, The Oxygen Revolution).
In Dr. Harch’s book he describes the trip down the birth canal as one of the most high-risk journeys any human will ever make. Dr. Harch educates us on how traumatic birth experiences can trigger Cerebral Palsy diagnoses in young infants, and how premature babies are at great risk for Cerebral Palsy since they are born with the center of the brain undeveloped, still very fragile and prone to spontaneous bleeding.
Every day desperate parents around the world seek alternative healing therapies for their children with cerebral palsy. Dr. Harch dives deep into the use of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) for the treatment of Cerebral Palsy and other neurological birth disorders, and explains the reasons why parents should embrace this therapy. Essentially, Dr. Harch describes Cerebral Palsy as a wound to the brain, so it should respond to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy the same way as other brain injuries. He confers that it absolutely does.
Dr. Harch reveals success stories of CP children who have had found hope and new life from Hyperbarics. In response to these stories and hearing that it works to heal and ease life-long debilitating CP symptoms, di Girolamo wants to know why more parents aren’t seeking out HBOT to help their cerebral palsy children? Harch relays that there’s too much inconsistent medical literature out there, and in many ways it’s just plain wrong. For example, a parent asks their doctor, “How about HBOT to treat Cerebral Palsy?”— the doctor might be unfamiliar with the therapy, so he/she checks the online medical database for HBOT and CP. Unfortunately this doctor will likely find some skewed data, leading the doctor to respond with “so….. I don’t think it’ll help”. Although, as Dr. Harch explains, the exact opposite is what’s true; HBOT absolutely helps CP patients.
One example given is that a well respected peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet, published medical literature on HBOT and CP announcing there was no proven benefit to use Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to treat Cerebral Palsy. But, the inconsistency there was that the control group was defined as a placebo, and that was not right. In response, Dr. Pierre Marois and his team, released a retrospective study on HBOT in the treatment of Cerebral Palsy that showed studies and numerous reports demonstrating the positive effects of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) in children with Cerebral Palsy.
Dr. Harch suggests our viewers dive into his 2021 presentation at the Team Luke3 Hope for Minds pediatric brain injury conference. Dr. Harch provided a summarization of all of the science showing that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy had extremely positive effects on every stage of the stem cell process. Additionally, Dr. Proefrock’s presentation from the same conference, “Current Trends in Naturopathic Treatment of Pediatric Neurological Injury” reveals stem cell data for children in the midst of HBOT treatment; showing that the children who have had Hyperbaric treatments produced 4x the amount of stem cells compared to those who did not.
Dr. Harch explains the roadblock for using Hyperbaric Oxygen for treatment of CP is still extremely difficult to get around, and he references the 2012 article by Novak and Badawai, Last breath: effectiveness of hyperbaric oxygen treatment for Cerebral Palsy as an example. In this article, they concluded that “Hyperbaric Oxygen does not have a clinically important effect on gross motor and self-care function in children with Cerebral Palsy.” Dr. Harch clarifies why they were wrong on the science, and how information like that is what’s preventing the average medical doctor to recommend HBOT for Cerebral Palsy.
di Girolamo and Dr. Harch urges viewers to find out for themselves if HBOT could be a good therapy for them or their loved one(s) living with CP. If you would like to dive into the world of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for the treatment of Cerebral Palsy, HBOT News encourages you to find a licensed Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy facility with hard mono-chambers or hard multi-place chambers, and act on this responsibly. Just like anything in the world of modern medicine, you can be injured or do more harm than good if HBOT is not administered correctly.
All of the data and success stories Dr. Harch reveals paints a much different picture than what the medical industry is showing us. Go try Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy sooner than later to treat, heal, and ease the symptoms of Cerebral Palsy. We trust that HBOT can also change your life!
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Guest
Dr. Paul G. Harch, MD
Dr. Harch initiated and continues to be a private practice that has resulted in the largest case experience in neurological hyperbaric medicine in the world. In this practice, he adapted the concepts of conventional hyperbaric oxygen therapy to wounds in the central nervous system, which spawned the subsequent academic and research practice. Harch HBOT is the best place to receive oxygen therapy treatments, and patients have traveled from more than 50 countries to be treated by Dr. Harch himself.
Harch HBOT – Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Clinic
5216 Lapalco Blvd.
Marrero, LA
504-309-4948
hbot@hbot.com
https://hbot.com/
Recent HBOT News
Executive summary: The Brain Injury and Mechanism of Action of Hyperbaric Oxygen for Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) (BIMA) Study.
The Brain Injury and Mechanism of Action of Hyperbaric Oxygen for Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) (BIMA) study, sponsored by the Department of Defense and held under an investigational new drug application by the Office of the Army Surgeon General, is one of the largest and most complex clinical trials of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO₂) for post-concussive symptoms (PCS) in U.S. military service members.
Hyperbaric oxygen for mild traumatic brain injury: Design and baseline summary.
The Brain Injury and Mechanisms of Action of Hyperbaric Oxygen for Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) (BIMA) study, sponsored by the Department of Defense, is a randomized double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial that has a longer duration of follow-up and more comprehensive assessment battery compared to recent HBO₂ studies. BIMA randomized 71 participants from September 2012 to May 2014. Primary results are expected in 2017. Randomized military personnel received hyperbaric oxygen (HBO₂) at 1.5 atmospheres absolute (ATA) or sham chamber sessions at 1.2 ATA, air, for 60 minutes daily for 40 sessions. Outcomes include neuropsychological, neuroimaging, neurological, vestibular, autonomic function, electroencephalography, and visual systems evaluated at baseline, immediately following intervention at 13 weeks and six months with self-report symptom and quality of life questionnaires at 12 months, 24 months and 36 months. Characteristics include: median age 33 years (range 21-53); 99% male; 82% Caucasian; 49% diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder; 28% with most recent injury three months to one year prior to enrollment; 32% blast injuries; and 73% multiple injuries. This manuscript describes the study design, outcome assessment battery, and baseline characteristics. Independent of a therapeutic role of HBO₂, results of BIMA will aid understanding of mTBI.
Neuropsychological assessments in a hyperbaric trial of post-concussive symptoms.
Results of studies addressing the effect of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on symptoms and neuropsychological assessments are mixed regarding cognitive deficits in these populations. Neuropsychological assessments were compared between U.S. military service members with mTBI only (n=36) vs. those with mTBI÷ PTSD (n=35) from a randomized interventional study of mTBI participants with persistent post-concussive symptoms (PCS). The mTBI group endorsed worse symptoms than published norms on PCS, PTSD and pain scales (⟩50% abnormal on Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI), PTSD Checklist-Civilian, McGill Pain Questionnaire-Short Form) and some quality of life domains. Worse symptom reporting was found in the mTBI÷ PTSD group compared to mTBI (e.g., mean NSI total score in mTBI 27.5 (SD=12.7), mTBI÷ PTSD 39.9 (SD=13.6), p⟨0.001). The mTBI÷PTSD group performed worse than mTBI on the Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale digit span (mean difference -1.5, 95% CI[-2.9,-0.1], p=0.04) and symbol search (mean difference -1.5, 95% CI[-2.7,-0.2], p=0.03) and Grooved Pegboard (dominant hand mean difference -7.0, 95% CI[-11.5,-2.4], p=0.003; non-dominant mean difference -9.8, 95% CI[-14.9,-4.7], p⟨0.001). Differences were detected in ANAM simple reaction time (p=0.04) and mathematical processing (p=0.03) but not verbal fluency or visuospatial memory assessments. Results indicate increased symptom severity and some cognitive deficits in mTBI÷ PTSD compared to mTBI alone.