Hyperbaric Therapy with Yuki Okamoto, MS ATC
Yuki Okamoto is a graduate of both San Diego State University and Point Loma Nazarene University.
Yuki Okamoto, a certified athletic trainer with a Masters degree in Sports Performance, is a San Diego based provider and President of Oxybarix - San Diego’s concierge hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
“His first intention to utilize HBOT comes from his family background in Japan. His family has been involved in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, and has been using HBOT to promote anti-aging and health optimization. Yuki has witnessed dramatic changes in people's life and health, and now as a healthcare practitioner, he has decided to implement Hyperberic Oxygen Therapy to treat athletes and all individuals who are in need of this therapy.”
Oxybarix offers both HBOT and manual therapy in the comfort of your home.
Yuki Okamoto received his Bachelors in Science, Athletic Training from San Diego State University and passed his Athletic Training Certification in 2017. After completing his undergraduate degree, he finished his Masters of Science, Kinesiology with an emphasis in Sports Performance from Point Loma Nazarene University in 2019. While he is highly educated with degrees and credentials from distinguished institutions, his family has been involved in HBOT for years.
“It’s [HBOT] very popular in Japan, China, and the UK. My mom has been using hyperbaric for decades. Popularity here in the states has been increasing, particularly in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. The biggest barrier is FDA and medicare approval. There is clinical usage in facilities like the University of California, San Diego, where they have a dedicated department for HBOT.“
Yuki has also served as an Athletic Trainer at Mesa College.
The governing body for HBOT, the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS), was founded in 1967 and is the highest tier of regulations for HBOT across the globe. They were formed to collect data and create guidelines/indications for the clinical usage of HBOT. Naturally, their formation is derived from US Navy Physicians who spearheaded the effort as, originally, a means to treat decompression sickness in divers. The concept of using air compression-base therapy as an intervention can actually trace its history back to the 1600s.
The UHMS’s published list of approved indications for intervention include:
Air or gas embolism
Gas gangrene
Crush injury
Compartment syndrome
Acute peripheral ischemias
Decompression sickness
Enhanced healing in selected problem wounds
Exceptional blood loss anemia
Necrotizing soft tissue infections
Osteomyelitis
Delayed radiation injury (soft tissue and bony necrosis)
Compromised skin grafts and flaps
Carbon monoxide poisoning
You can read more about indications and special considerations here.
The mechanism behind HBOT is hyperoxia, or creating a state of in which oxygen levels exceed normal function. This influx of oxygen promotes systemic healing as it diffuses into blood plasma to be distributed across the body. Yuki currently publishes information on HBOT regularly on the Oxybarix website - to learn more about the science behind HBOT, click here.
On top of publishing articles and resources on the Oxybarix website, Yuki will be presenting research on the effectiveness of HBOT as an intervention for traumatic brain injuries next month.
“The brain consumes 20% of the body’s oxygen levels. If the primary mechanism in HBOT is hyperoxia, the brain is going to directly benefit from this therapy. Traumatic brain injuries, strokes, etc. There’s more evidence coming out and being collected, because the data is out there, it just needs to be re-analyzed. I’ll be presenting on HBOT’s efficacy on traumatic brain injuries at the Far West Athletic Trainers’ Association (FWATA) next month. Due to COVID, the in-person seminar in Hawaii has now been shifted to a webinar format. No one has presented anything like this. I feel like there’s a lot of responsibility involved, but it’s very exciting.“
Another implication of COVID is the impact on Oxybarix’s model. To help cater to current stay-at-home orders and maintain social distancing, Oxybarix offers multi-day rentals for their individual-use chambers. Most commonly, clients rent the chambers out for 3 days at a time.
“It’s a very simple rental process. People confirm their rentals either through our contact page or through our online booking. We come to their house, place of employment, or whatever, set up the chamber, demo how to start the unit, and they can use it as much as they want within their rental period.”
Yuki presenting at the completion of his Masters degree.