When I began my career in hyperbaric medicine there were only about three hundred hyperbaric clinics across the nation. The majority of the American medical community back then considered Hyperbaric Medicine to be quackery and snake oil. I took a chance to enter this new career path not knowing what the future held for me. Now, as I reflect upon that decision I realized that I could not have made a better choice. The field of hyperbaric medicine has continually shown growth since that time and will maintain that growth as people seek out medical answers that do NOT include Surgery or Pharmaceutical remedies.
With each passing year more and more research is being conducted and documented establishing Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) as one of the best medical options that exist today, for those who fortunate enough to have HBOT available for treatments and are willing to follow the research provided by the international community. The primary issue with the lack of available treatments within the US has been the fact that the pharmaceutical corporations are NOT able to create a patent for HBOT, so the American research community has been very reluctant to invest in research on the utilization of HBOT as applied to the vast numbers of medical illnesses and diseases in this country.
I attended a Alternative Medicine conference where one of the lecturers stated that "The American Medical System is NOT considered in the top fifty (50) medical systems within the one hundred and forty countries surveyed". Some believe that status is due to the fact that our medical system is FOR PROFIT BASED!!! I'm of the opinion that HBOT will grow into one of the most utilized treatment methods in America within the next twenty years at the current rate of utilization and research being conducted outside our borders. Only time will tell, but I definitely don't regret my chosen career path.
If you on the fence considering entering this medical specialty, now is the time to act! There are new HBOT clinics, of various versions, (Hard, Mild, Research, Wellness, and Veterinarian) opening every year around the country. Watts and Associates can be your guide to this amazing and worthwhile field of medicine.
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