Brain healing

Brain injury will commonly be accompanied by acute swelling, which impairs function in brain tissue that remains alive. Resolution of swelling is an important factor for the individual's function to improve. The greatest factor in functional recovery after brain injury comes from the brain's ability to learn, called neuroplasticity. After injury, neuroplasticity allows intact areas of the brain to adapt and attempt to compensate for damaged parts of the brain. Although axons and the peripheral nervous system in the developing brain can regenerate, they cannot in the adult brain. This is partly because of factors produced by cells in the brain that inhibit this regeneration. Dendrites, however, will develop from intact axons, as part of the neuroplasticity process. After severe brain injury, improvement in function related to neuroplasticity is unlikely to occur without help from health professionals skilled in rehabilitation. Recent studies have found collagen is extensively distributed throughout the brain and may be essential in protecting the brain against degeneration such as that in Alzheimers.^[1][2]

A study done in Tel Aviv University showed severe brain damage can be reversed through oxygen rich air. Patients were treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in high pressure chambers containing oxygen rich air which increased oxygen levels in body tenfold.

After two months of treatment, patients who were previously unable to perform simple daily activities such as bathing, cooking, climbing stairs or reading a book regained these abilities following treatment. ^[3]

• Neuroregeneration