Case Study: A Professional UFC Fighter's Journey to Peak Performance

In preparation for her upcoming UFC title match, UFC 299, professional fighter Katlyn Cerminara (Katlyn Chookagian), came to us to enhance her training and recovery. With the goal of optimizing her athletic potential, we administered  hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for 2 weeks.

The focus of her treatment was on enhancing her endurance, expediting recovery, improving reaction time and fortifying overall physical resilience. This case study looks into the impact of HBOT on Katlyn's training, and recovery.

CASE STUDY: 

Patient Age: 35

Gender: Female 

Presentation: Patient is a professional UFC fighter. She presented for HBOT in preparation for an upcoming UFC title match. No specific complaints. Experiencing global, typical musculoskeletal soreness from intense training.

Health History: Healthy adult. No significant past medical history.

Personalized Treatment Protocol: 11 HBOT sessions utilizing our unique athletic training protocol.

Patient Outcome: Patient reports feeling great and that she is training harder than ever, and feels as if she cannot even tire herself out. She reports improved reaction time, heightened sharpness and effortless, intense training.

Dr. Alan A. Katz & Katlyn Chookagian

Notes From Dr. Alan A. Katz, National Medial Director

HBOT for Athletes

Many top athletes, including NFL quarterback Tom Brady, NBA star LeBron James, and MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre, have reported using HBOT to improve their recovery and performance. The HMS team regularly treats professional athletes (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and the ATP tour), and fitness enthusiasts using special protocols to help muscle recovery and enhance performance.

HBOT can help athletes with enhanced athletic performance, accelerated recovery times, decreased inflammation, improved mitochondrial function, and more.

Many athletes operate in a “Chronic Cytokine Storm” as a result of stress, fatigue, and lactic acid overload incurred during training, and even due to frequent air travel (low oxygen and pressure environment). Tissues chronically exposed to hypoxia over-express inflammatory cytokines which can disrupt normal immune responses.

HBOT can mitigate this by:

• Increasing both the amount of oxygen and the pressure at which it is delivered, which profoundly affects immune modulation
• Supporting mitochondrial function and energy production
• Increasing the production and circulation of STEM cells
• Improving neurocognitive performance including reaction time by elevating brain neuroplasticity and interconnection
• HBOT can be used to treat concussion leading to a more rapid return to play
• HBOT preconditioning: preseason/pre-post game use can decrease injury risk

Our Unique HBOT Athletic Training Protocol

When we treat professional and top performing athletes, we very carefully alter the partial pressures of oxygen leading up to the athletes event or match to account for cytokine washout.