Recovery time could decrease by up to 60 percent
By Sean Fitz-Gerald,
National Post
ST. CATHARINES – Ricky Williams has been spending more than four hours a day lying on his back inside a hissing blue tube made of steel and glass, breathing 100% pure oxygen at 2,000 times the normal atmospheric pressure with hopes of speeding his recovery from a broken arm.
His visits inside a hyperbaric chamber began last week and are scheduled to continue through the rest of this week at a clinic in St. Catharines, where he has been rehabilitating the left forearm he fractured while playing for the Toronto Argonauts late last month in a Canadian Football League game in Regina.
The 29-year-old running back’s time in the tube has been broken into morning and afternoon sessions each lasting two hours and 15 minutes. He generally spends his time meditating, watching one of the overhead televisions or performing simple exercises with his left hand. No other objects, such as a book, are allowed inside the chamber.
A black-and-white movie was playing in a DVD player as he began his afternoon session yesterday.
“It’s always nice to treat a professional athlete, and Ricky’s very down to earth, he’s very pleasant,” said Dr. Michael Venneri, who heads the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Institute.
“He has really interacted well with the little kids that he’s seen here and people that have recognized him. And the ones that really don’t even know who he is, he’s really noticed that someone is struggling.”
Williams broke the radius bone in his left arm while trying to regain his balance after being tripped up in a game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He underwent surgery that weekend, with the initial estimates suggesting he would miss between four and six weeks.
The player himself suggested he would need up to eight weeks to heal. He is three weeks into his recovery.
Williams signed with the Argos a week into training camp after the Miami Dolphins finally gave permission for him to spend his National Football League suspension in Canada. Williams was banished from the 2006 season after losing the appeal on his fourth failed drug test earlier this year.
“It will speed the recovery time up by 60%, that’s what we’re hoping,” Venneri said of the hyperbaric therapy. “However, when you deal with breaks, there is some type of complication with soft tissue. And sometimes that can be the factor that may leave the person a longer time [to heal].”
Venneri is a chiropractor and acupuncturist who brought the hyperbaric chambers to Canada seven years ago. His is a private clinic, and a medical doctor works on site to monitor the chambers.
It is all housed inside a nondescript beige building in St. Catharines, which is about a 90-minute drive around Lake Ontario from Toronto. There were four machines in the room where Williams was treated yesterday, with natural light spilling in from one window near the ceiling and potted plants placed for decoration.
“In his case, he’s looking at a whole realm of things to help himself get better in an increased time frame,” Venneri said. “And he seems to be ahead of schedule. For example, he only had 20 pounds of grip strength when he came here — he’s already up to 60. He’s only been here for seven days.”
Hyperbaric therapy is used to treat some effects of cancer therapy and complications from diabetes, as well as carbon monoxide poisoning and burns.
Side effects can include a brief loss of equilibrium because of the increased pressure — akin to what happens during an airplane’s ascent — and claustrophobia. The sinuses can also be affected.
The Vancouver Canucks paid $75,000 for a hyperbaric chamber of their own more than a decade ago. English soccer star Wayne Rooney used a hyperbaric chamber to heal his broken foot before the World Cup, and Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens flew one into his training camp hotel room last week to help heal his injured hamstring.
Williams, who declined an interview, was believed to be staying in a hotel somewhere in the Niagara region while receiving treatment.
“He’s very intelligent, he’s got a good heart, and I think that he genuinely cares about people,” Venneri said.
“I’ve noticed that people will start a conversation with him — just because you’re waiting — and he’ll start talking. He interacts really well, and he’s very pleasant. “He’s very positive, too. We had a person come in last week and … he hadn’t been here in five years and his daughter was getting married and he could hardly walk. He said, ‘Mike, you have to fix me because my daughter’s wedding’s in 10 days.’ So he sits down and Ricky says, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll be fixed right away for the wedding.’ “
