Inside a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Session: Pressurization, Ear Equalizing and Chamber Time
During hyperbaric oxygen therapy you lie or sit in a sealed chamber while the air pressure is raised to roughly two to three times…
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Blog Category
Recovery & Aftercare
Articles on recovery and aftercare: wound care, swelling, activity limits, flying after surgery and the symptoms that mean you should call your doctor. Your discharge instructions always come first.
How to Use Crutches Properly: Stairs, Sitting and Not Falling
To use crutches safely, set the tops two finger-widths below your armpits and carry your weight through your hands, never your armpits. Move both…
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Scar Tissue Massage: When It Helps, How It Is Done, and When to Leave Scars Alone
Scar tissue massage can help soften, flatten, and desensitize a healing scar once the wound has fully closed and a clinician has cleared you,…
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Who Is Referred for Clinical Nutrition Therapy? Diabetes, Kidney Disease and Surgery Recovery
Medical nutrition therapy is usually recommended for people whose eating pattern directly affects a diagnosed condition: most often type 1 or type 2 diabetes,…
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What a Chronic Wound Care Visit Involves: Assessment, Debridement, Dressings and Compression
A wound care appointment usually begins with a review of your health history and medicines, followed by measuring and photographing the wound, checking circulation…
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Monoplace vs Multiplace Hyperbaric Chambers: What Changes for You During Oxygen Therapy
A monoplace hyperbaric chamber treats one person lying in a clear acrylic tube, usually pressurized with pure oxygen. A multiplace chamber is a walk-in…
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What a Chronic Wound Care Visit Involves: Assessment, Debridement, Dressings and Compression
At a wound care appointment, a clinician reviews your health history, examines and measures the wound, and checks circulation and sensation in the surrounding…
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Driving After Knee or Hip Replacement: The Honest Timelines
Most people are cleared to drive about four weeks after a right knee replacement and four to six weeks after a right hip replacement,…
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Who Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy For? Wounds, Radiation Injury and Other Recognized Indications
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used for a short, specific list of recognized conditions: decompression sickness, air or gas embolism, carbon monoxide poisoning, slow-healing diabetic…
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Dissolvable Stitches: How Long They Take, Why Some Spit, and When to Check In
Dissolvable stitches usually hold a wound together for one to eight weeks, and the body fully absorbs the material within weeks to several months,…
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What to Avoid After a Stent, and When You Can Fly or Drink Again
After a coronary stent, the most important things to avoid are stopping your antiplatelet medicines without your cardiologist's say-so, smoking, heavy lifting or soaking…
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Arthrofibrosis: When a Knee Gets Stiff After Surgery, and What Helps
Arthrofibrosis is an excessive buildup of internal scar tissue after joint surgery or injury, most often in the knee, that causes persistent stiffness, pain,…
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Chronic Wound Care for Diabetic Foot Ulcers: Blood Sugar, Offloading and Daily Foot Checks
Diabetic foot ulcer care rests on three pillars working at once: keeping pressure off the wound (offloading), keeping blood glucose in the range your…
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How to Sleep (and Live) with a Kidney Stent
Most people sleep better with a kidney (ureteral) stent by lying on the side opposite the stent or slightly propped up, emptying the bladder…
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Tube Feeding vs IV Nutrition in Clinical Nutrition Therapy: When Doctors Use Each Option
Tube feeding (enteral nutrition) delivers liquid formula into the stomach or small intestine through a tube, while IV nutrition (parenteral nutrition) infuses nutrients directly…
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Hardware Removal Surgery: When Plates and Screws Should Come Out
Most orthopedic plates and screws are designed to stay in the body permanently and never need removal. Hardware removal surgery is usually considered only…
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Flying with a DVT, Compression Stockings and Prevention
Most people can fly with a DVT once they are established on anticoagulant treatment and their symptoms are stable, but the timing is an…
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Living With a Central Venous Port: Showering, Swimming, Flushing Schedules and Travel
Living with a chemo port is mostly a matter of protecting the skin over it and keeping the line clear. Once the incision has…
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