Case Study: A Professional UFC Fighter's Journey to Peak Performance
![Katlyn Chookagian, UFC Fighter in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Chamber at Hyperbaric Medical Solutions Katlyn Chookagian, UFC Fighter in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Chamber at Hyperbaric Medical Solutions](https://www.hyperbaricmedicalsolutions.com/hs-fs/hubfs/PXL_20240215_153714338.ACTION_PAN-01.COVER-1.jpg?width=2000&height=1952&name=PXL_20240215_153714338.ACTION_PAN-01.COVER-1.jpg)
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.
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Written by Hyperbaric Medical Solutions
Hyperbaric Medical Solutions is a free-standing, independent medical practice, providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). HBOT is an advanced healing therapy that treats conditions that benefit from increased oxygen concentration and absorption in the body....
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