The aging process brings with it a handful of unexpected challenges. As our bodies change over time, often, our bodies take longer to do things. Maybe we feel stiffer for longer after exercise, or perhaps our digestive system becomes sluggish over time. Our body’s natural healing abilities start to slow with age and even the smallest injury or wound can take a considerably long time to heal.

How the Aging Process Affects Wound Care

So, why does this happen? Well, our aging processes reduce the body’s capacity to repair itself because there are not as many growth factors or stem cells in older skin, both of which are necessary to help tissue repair. Several other physical limitations emerge that can negatively affect your body’s ability to heal itself with time. Some of these include:

Venous Insufficiency

Part of the aging process for millions of individuals involves venous insufficiency, which means that the body’s veins become unable to move the blood back to the heart effectively. This can then result in swelling and skin ulcers, which won’t heal without more extensive care.

Chronic Health Conditions

Those suffering from chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, often experience pain or numbness in the extremities. This means that patients often don’t notice when they experience a cut or wound until it’s become infected. Other individuals may suffer from poor blood circulation, which means that vital oxygen and nutrients simply cannot reach the wound to aid in the healing process.

Poor Physical/Nutritional Practices

As you age, you may start to experience a decrease in energy, and as you move through your daily life, your daily nutrition may falter. This can lead to weight gain and other complications that can delay wound healing, such as the deterioration in cardiovascular strength.

Hyperbaric Wound Care for Wounds That Won’t Heal

What can older patients do to help speed up the healing process? One thing that is present in many of these complications is the lack of oxygen that is being delivered throughout the body. Oxygen plays a vital role in the wound healing process, and if your body isn’t able to move it to the site of an injury or open wound, it can lead to issues such as infections.

Hyperbaric wound care, also referred to as hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), is a treatment process that delivers 100% pure oxygen to patients struggling with wounds that won’t heal. The therapy session is very straightforward. Patients simply lie in the hyperbaric chamber as it releases concentrated and pressurized oxygen. This allows the oxygen to permeate the entire body, including areas affected by poor circulation. When oxygen infiltrates the body’s white blood cells, they are better able to aid in the healing processes, helping your wounds heal as they should – and, in some cases, speeding the healing processes up.

Hyperbaric Wound Care in Texas

Whether you’ve been injured or you have experienced wounds from an underlying health condition – hyperbaric wound care could help improve your wound care outcome.
Have questions about hyperbaric wound care? Contact us today for more information.