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The history around hyperbaric oxygen therapy is not exactly clear, however it could be described as a new application of an older, more established technology, with reports dating back to the 1600’s.  British physician Nathaniel Henshaw was reportedly the first person to use compressed air in a chamber called a domicilium to achieve a hyperbaric oxygen environment; his pioneer work dates back to 1662. It is also around this period that Robert Boyle, an Irish chemist, physicist, and inventor, stated that the pressure and volume of a gas have an inverse relationship when temperature is held constant. Boyle’s law formed the basis for many aspects of the therapy we use today.

Through the centuries the therapy evolved, with the discovery of Oxygen by English scientist Priestly in 1774; In 1834 a copper sphere hyperbaric chamber was built in France with the ability to achieve pressures of up to four atmospheric pressure and used to treat pulmonary disease;  In 1859 there was the first recorded cause of death being ‘Caisson Disease’ known as decompression sickness today.

The first hyperbaric chamber was used in North America in 1861 to treat nervous disorders;  a further discovery of oxygen toxicity by Paul Bert which caused concerns around using oxygen under pressure, however by the end of this century the first workers were successfully treated for Caisson Disease in a hyperbaric chamber in America, after becoming ill during the construction of the Hudson Tunnel in New York.  It’s ability to aid wound healing adding has been found to help many different conditions, with the first chamber being set up in the UK to help people living with Multiple Sclerosis in 1982.

‘History of Hyperbaric Chambers’ by Gerhard F K Haux