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Am I a Candidate for HBOT? Quiz

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has a short list of recognised indications, a long list of investigational uses, and a few conditions that make it unsafe. This quiz sorts your situation into those three groups so you know what to ask a clinic.

  • Fit quiz
  • About 3 min
  • Based on UHMS indications and published contraindications
  • Runs in your browser, nothing is sent
  • Medical review: Medical review pending

If your symptoms are severe or sudden, seek urgent medical care.

Start the test

Three groups, kept apart on purpose

Clinics often present hyperbaric oxygen as one thing. It is not. Insurance, evidence and safety all depend on which of these three groups your situation falls in, and the quiz keeps them separate rather than giving a single yes or no.

  1. 1

    Recognised indications

    Conditions the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society lists as approved uses, such as non-healing diabetic foot wounds, radiation tissue injury, chronic bone infection, compromised grafts and sudden hearing loss. These are usually hospital-based and often covered by insurance.

  2. 2

    Investigational uses

    Uses with early or mixed evidence: post-concussion symptoms, long COVID, stroke recovery, chronic pain, sports recovery and general wellness. These are the uses most private clinics market, usually at lower pressures and out of pocket.

  3. 3

    Safety questions

    Conditions that make pressurised oxygen unsafe or need a specialist decision first: an untreated collapsed lung, certain chemotherapy drugs, uncontrolled seizures, severe lung or sinus disease, pregnancy, and a few others. One of these changes the answer.

How this compares with a typical online quiz

FeatureTypical free quizRegenerated.com
Separates approved from investigational usesRarelyYes, by UHMS indication list
Safety screen before the sales pitchNoYes, and it overrides the result
Says what to ask a clinicNoYes, pressure, protocol and physician oversight
Data sent to a serverOftenNever, scored in your browser

Methodology and sources

The recognised indications follow the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) list of approved uses, which US insurers and the FDA broadly reflect. The investigational items cover the uses most often marketed by private hyperbaric centres, where published trials are small, mixed or ongoing. The safety items are the absolute and relative contraindications described in standard hyperbaric medicine references: untreated pneumothorax, recent or current treatment with bleomycin, doxorubicin, cisplatin or disulfiram, uncontrolled seizure disorder, severe obstructive lung disease with air trapping, pregnancy, active upper respiratory or sinus infection, and claustrophobia severe enough to prevent treatment.

The quiz scores each group as a share of the questions you answered yes to. A single yes in the safety group overrides the other two groups, because none of the other answers matter until a physician has cleared that issue. The result is educational: it tells you which conversation to have, not whether to have treatment. Only a physician trained in hyperbaric medicine can decide candidacy, protocol and pressure.

Medical review: Medical review pending. Indications and contraindications were checked against the UHMS list and standard references; clinical review of the interpretation copy is scheduled. Last updated .

References

  1. Moon RE, ed. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Indications. 14th ed. North Palm Beach, FL: Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society; 2019.
  2. Heyboer M, Sharma D, Santiago W, McCulloch N. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy: side effects defined and quantified. Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). 2017;6(6):210-224.
  3. US Food and Drug Administration. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Get the Facts. FDA Consumer Update. Updated 2021.
  4. Harch PG. Hyperbaric oxygen in chronic traumatic brain injury: oxygen, pressure, and gene therapy. Med Gas Res. 2015;5:9.

Am I a Candidate for HBOT? Quiz FAQ

Breathing 100 percent oxygen inside a chamber pressurised above sea level, usually 2.0 to 2.5 atmospheres absolute for 60 to 120 minutes, in a course of many sessions. The pressure dissolves far more oxygen into the blood than breathing oxygen at normal pressure.

The FDA has cleared hyperbaric chambers for a specific list of conditions that matches the UHMS indications. It has warned that claims for other conditions, including autism, cancer, Alzheimer's and COVID-19, are not supported by the evidence it has reviewed.

No. Soft-sided chambers are cleared only for acute mountain sickness and operate at much lower pressure, often with air rather than oxygen. Many wellness centres use them. The evidence for the recognised indications comes from hard chambers at 2.0 ATA and above.

Ear and sinus barotrauma are the most common, followed by temporary short-sightedness, and rarely oxygen toxicity seizures or lung injury. Fire risk is why chambers have strict rules about what you bring in. Serious complications are rare under physician supervision.

US insurers and Medicare generally cover the UHMS-recognised indications when a physician documents them. Investigational uses are almost always self-pay, often several hundred dollars per session.

Yes. Your answers and the numbers you enter are scored in your browser and are never sent to us. They stay in this browser tab so you can return to your result, and closing the tab clears them. The only thing the page sends us is a counts-only event: which test was started or completed, the result band and the headline number, with no answers, no entered values and no account. There is nothing to sign up for.

Find hyperbaric oxygen therapy clinics

Browse US clinics offering HBOT. Look for the chamber type, the pressure used, the supervising physician and UHMS accreditation on each profile, and ask about anything that is missing.

Browse HBOT clinics

A listing is not a treatment endorsement. Read each clinic's published checks and talk to your clinician before starting any treatment.

Important: This quiz is an educational sorting tool, not a medical assessment and not a recommendation for or against hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Candidacy is decided by a physician trained in hyperbaric medicine after a history and examination. If your symptoms are severe or sudden, seek urgent medical care.