This Research Rundown is a little different than the other ones, because we’re about to shift our focus from TBIs and PTSD to other indications. While the conditions that continue to restrain our veterans from living the life they once did will always be equally important and at the top of our priority list, we also don’t want to lose focus on all the other indications out there Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help. Really amazing research is surfacing every day on how Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can help so many people in so many different ways, we’re going to shift our focus a little and bring you some of these amazing new discoveries.
Just as important as it is to bring you new research; we also want to ensure you understand what the sham is in a research study, and how the sham can greatly influence a positive or negative conclusion. We’ll discuss all of that in this special episode focused on Purpose & Shifting Focus.
Highlights:
- What is a sham?
- In Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy studies, the sham is basically like a placebo where where they’re sort of “faking” administering hyperbaric oxygen
- Why is a sham in a HBOT study not a true placebo?
- It’s very hard to fake oxygen + pressure… especially the pressure. How do you fake something that is so obvious as putting a person in a pressurized chamber? A patient’s ears pop, and they have to equalize to compensate for the pressure.
- In order to “fake” it, the researchers will give the control group just a little bit of pressure.
- Even just a little bit of pressure is good for healing. So, when researchers are giving patients even a little bit of pressure and then seeing positive changes in both the control group and the experimental group, it’s negatively impacting some of these studies.
- Be aware of such, and if you are digging into research on your own…. take note of how they conducted the sham.