Over the years, Michael Jackson has graced more tabloid covers than any other celebrity, the ghost of Elvis included. One memorable tabloid photo from the mid-1980s showed Jackson lying peacefully in a hyperbaric chamber, presumably part of his plan to stay young forever.
Perhaps inspired by that iconic image, many health seekers have climbed into hyperbaric chambers of their own. The prospect of slowing or reversing aging is one big draw. Others hope the little extra air pressure and oxygen a chamber provides can cure their cancer or some other chronic disease. In recent years, a growing number of parents have sought hyperbaric therapy to treat their children's autism or cerebral palsy.
Portable hyperbaric chambers are showing up in spas and alternative health clinics across the country. You can even rent or buy one for home use and climb into your pressurized haven as often as you like.
Summit to Sea manufactures three home-use hyperbaric chambers. The Shallow Dive -- 28 inches wide and 7 feet long -- sells for almost $7,000. (The company's tag line is "Affordable hyperbaric chambers.") It comes with a compressor that fills the chamber with filtered room air to a pressure of 1.2 ATA (short for atmospheres absolute).
The Dive, which sells for nearly $8,000, is the same size as the Shallow Dive but can reach a pressure of 1.3 ATA. The Grand Dive -- 40 inches wide and more than 9 feet long -- sells for almost $14,000. Like the Dive, it can be pressurized to 1.3 ATA.
The Flexi-Lite portable chamber sold by HyperbaricsRx is 34 inches wide and almost 9 feet long. It can be yours for a bit more than $17,000. Like the Dive and the Grand Dive, it provides an air pressure of 1.3 ATA. Users can breathe filtered room air or 100% oxygen delivered through a mask attached to a tank.
Such chambers are essentially souped-up versions of Gamow bags, inflatable bags used by mountain climbers to treat altitude sickness. The bags can be purchased for a few thousand dollars or rented by the day in mountain-climbing .
These portable hyperbaric chambers (also called mild hyperbaric chambers) are far different from the rigid, high-pressure devices found in some hospitals. Hospital chambers can provide 100% oxygen at pressures reaching 6 ATA or more.
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