The Effects of Meditation and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy on Chronic Wounds

Each year, Community Care Access Centers (CCAC) provide long-term wound care for over 22,000 patients in Ontario, with numbers steadily increasing with the aging population. In Ontario, the cost of community care for lower leg ulcers has been estimated at over $500 million per year. This does not include the additional cost of adjunctive HBOT, which averages over $120 thousand for a standard 40 treatment course. These costs are further compounded by the psychological comorbidities that often accompany chronic disease, although these numbers are difficult to capture. Across Canada, the health burden cost of anxiety and depression alone totals over $14 billion annually, with disability costs comparable to those associated with heart disease. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that psychological interventions are more cost-effective than drug treatment, with comparable results.

The elderly patients with chronic non-healing wounds experience a sense of powerlessness and loss of autonomy that profoundly impacts subjective wellbeing. These psychological effects in turn compromise healing, as growing evidence suggests that psychological stress impacts wound repair [1, 2]. Recent studies have shown that structured meditation programs can improve recovery from both physical and psychological disease. For example, meditation enhances immune response [3, 4] while reducing blood pressure [5], insulin resistance [6], oxidative stress [7], inflammation [8], and other risk indices. Furthermore, meditation therapy can be broadly applied with few limitations, having successfully been used in elderly [9], ill [10] and disabled [11] populations.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is an adjuvant therapy for chronic wounds. HBOT increases oxygen delivery to tissues via inhalation of 100% oxygen at high barometric pressures. HBOT has been shown to promote angiogenesis, cerebral blood and neuroplasticity in patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury and chronic pain. Furthermore, HBOT also alleviates inflammation, reduces oxidative stress, inhibits apoptosis and stimulates signaling pathways essential for wound healing.

Patients referred for HBOT assessment often have "problem wounds" that have failed prolonged courses of standard wound care. These refractory wounds may benefit from a multimodal approach that targets both the physical and psychological manifestations of chronic disease. Meditation is a simple and economical addition to HBOT that may further enhance the rate of healing by alleviating psychological stressors. Meditation encompasses a spectrum of mindfulness-based interventions that have been shown to improve mental and physical health in randomized trials. Meditation reduces stress, pain, anxiety, depression and blood pressure while improving cognition and memory performance. A variety of specialties have begun to use meditation as a cost-effective, low-stigma adjunct to standard medical and psychiatric care.

Meditation and HBOT have been independently shown to improve healing, and may have synergistic effects when applied together. This combined intervention has the potential to improve mood while enhancing the healing process, offering improved health while reducing the costs associated with chronic wounds.