Why NBA Stars Are Sitting Inside Hyperbaric Chambers

The Quick Answer

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) delivers concentrated oxygen inside a pressurized chamber, dissolving far more oxygen directly into plasma than normal breathing can. Elite athletes like Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic, and LeBron James use HBOT to support recovery from injury and intense training. Research suggests it may reduce inflammation, support mitochondrial function, and help oxygen reach hypoxic tissue. HBOT isn’t a shortcut around healing — it’s better infrastructure for it.

When the Lakers' playoff run ended in a sweep, one detail in the coverage caught the wellness world's attention. Austin Reaves had reportedly used a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for close to four weeks, trying to recover from a Grade 2 oblique tear in time to be useful in the postseason. His medical team had set a four-to-six-week return window, and Reaves was back on the floor for Game 5, right at the front end of that timeline. Luka Doncic mentioned the same therapy in his own recovery. LeBron James has talked about hyperbaric exposure as part of his stack for years.

For anyone wondering what hyperbaric oxygen therapy actually does and why elite athletes keep reaching for it, the science is more grounded than the headlines make it sound.

What HBOT Is

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves breathing oxygen-enriched air inside a sealed chamber pressurized above normal atmospheric levels. That combination — more oxygen and more pressure — dissolves a much larger volume of oxygen directly into plasma, lymph, and other body fluids than normal breathing can deliver.

That matters because injured tissue is often hypoxic, meaning it is not getting enough oxygen to repair itself efficiently. A bruised muscle, a swollen oblique, a surgical incision, a concussed brain. HBOT changes the oxygen environment that those cells are trying to heal in.

What It May Support

Research suggests HBOT may support recovery through a few overlapping pathways. Higher dissolved oxygen can reach tissue that compromised circulation cannot. It appears to influence the inflammatory cascade in ways that may help the body resolve the response rather than stay stuck in it. Studies have indicated that hyperbaric exposure may support mitochondrial function and, with repeated sessions, the formation of new small blood vessels in areas with chronically reduced perfusion.¹

Put simply, HBOT is not a shortcut around healing. It is closer to better infrastructure for it.

What the Research Shows

The mechanisms behind HBOT are well described in the medical literature, even if the sports-specific evidence is still maturing. A widely cited review of how hyperbaric oxygen works found that pressurized oxygen behaves like a signaling molecule: it can downregulate pro-inflammatory pathways, shift the balance of enzymes that remodel tissue, and drive the HIF-1α and VEGF cascade that prompts the body to build new blood vessels.¹ In plain terms, the same therapy can help quiet an overactive inflammatory response in one setting and stimulate repair and new circulation in another.

Inflammation markers. Inflammation is a normal, necessary part of healing, but it can overstay its welcome. The mechanistic reviews suggest HBOT may help the body resolve that response rather than stay stuck in it, partly by modulating the redox signaling that governs inflammatory markers.¹ That is one reason the therapy is studied alongside acute soft tissue injuries where swelling outpaces repair.

Soft tissue healing. A review of hyperbaric oxygen in sports injuries examined its use across muscle, ligament, and other soft tissue damage and described a plausible biological rationale: injured tissue is often hypoxic, and raising the oxygen dissolved in plasma supports the cellular work of repair.³ The authors were careful to note that while the physiology is sound, the human trial evidence is still limited and mixed.

Muscle recovery timelines. This is where honesty matters most. A Cochrane systematic review of HBOT for delayed onset muscle soreness and closed soft tissue injury found insufficient evidence that it speeds recovery from ordinary training soreness, and in some trials soreness was no better or even slightly worse.⁴ A more recent review of HBOT in sports musculoskeletal injuries reached a similar bottom line: the therapy may help injured athletes recover faster than rehabilitation alone, but larger, better-controlled studies are needed to confirm it.² In that literature, sporting injuries are usually treated over a course of roughly three to ten sessions rather than a single visit.²

The takeaway is not that HBOT cures injuries. It is that the underlying biology is real and well understood, the clinical evidence for athletic recovery is promising but still developing, and the people most likely to benefit are those using it as one structured piece of a supervised recovery plan.

Who Is a Good Candidate

The athletes in the headlines are useful precisely because they make the logic obvious. A professional with a Grade 2 muscle tear and a hard return date has every reason to stack recovery tools, and oxygen delivery is one of the few levers that reaches tissue blood flow alone cannot. But the biology does not check your contract status. The people who tend to get the most out of HBOT include:

• Active adults recovering from a soft tissue injury such as a strained hamstring, a rolled ankle, or a post-race oblique that will not settle.
• Post-surgical patients cleared by their surgeon who want to support healing in tissue that is temporarily under-perfused.
• Weekend warriors and masters athletes whose recovery has slowed with age and who are training hard enough to feel it.
• High-output professionals whose sleep, stress, and travel are quietly taxing how well the body repairs itself.

It is not for everyone. HBOT is not appropriate for certain lung conditions, an untreated collapsed lung, some ear and sinus problems, or specific medications, which is exactly why a real clinical intake comes first. The point of that conversation is not to sell you sessions. It is to find out whether the therapy fits your body and your goal before you ever step into the chamber.

What This Means for the Rest of Us

At Defiant, HBOT rarely works in isolation. It tends to land best as one piece of a broader recovery stack, which is why many of the clients who book the chamber also reach for tools like whole-body cryotherapy in Lisle, IL.

HBOT is not appropriate for every person or every condition. A real clinical intake exists for a reason. Used in the right context, inside a broader plan that might also include contrast therapy in Lisle, IL, it can be a powerful piece of a recovery stack.

If you live in Lisle, Naperville, Downers Grove, Wheaton, or anywhere across Chicago's western suburbs and you are curious whether HBOT might fit into your own recovery or performance plan alongside options like our infrared sauna in Naperville, the team at Defiant is happy to talk it through.

Explore our HBOT program, learn about our membership, or book a consultation.

Common Questions

Last updated May 19, 2026.