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The Recovery Hack Top Performers Are Using | Chris Neal from MD Hyperbaric

• BBNL Media • Season 1 • Episode 12

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0:00 | 52:30

In this episode of More U, Dom and Dr. Ben sit down with Chris Neal to break down one of the most talked-about tools in recovery and performance: hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

From athletes to high performers, more people are turning to this treatment to accelerate healing, improve recovery, and optimize how their body functions.

But what actually works… and what’s hype?

Chris explains how hyperbaric oxygen therapy works, who it’s for, and why intentional recovery might be the missing piece for so many people pushing at a high level.

In this episode:

  •  What hyperbaric oxygen therapy actually does 
  •  How it impacts recovery and performance 
  •  Who should (and shouldn’t) use it 
  •  The difference between hype and real results 
  •  Why recovery is becoming a priority for high performers 

This conversation isn’t about doing more.
 It’s about recovering better.

🎧 Subscribe to More U Podcast for real conversations on performance, health, and becoming more aware.


📲 SOCIAL MEDIA 

Podcast:
@more_u_official

Hosts:
Dom @dominicmazzone1
Dr. C @manyfacesofchicago

Guest:
Chris Neal @chrisneal_

MD Hyperbaric @mdhyperbaric


#MoreUPodcast
 #HyperbaricOxygen
 #RecoveryScience
 #Longevity
 #Performance

SPEAKER_03

Starting a company is like chewing glass and starting off into the void.

SPEAKER_01

I like to say is that I'm waking up from like the 52nd round every morning.

SPEAKER_00

He's like, this is the best skincare treatment ever in the world. But if it's not done properly to the right levels and the right depths and the right oxygen, you're just not gonna get the benefits.

SPEAKER_03

I learned a lot about myself through the process. I I think I've aged probably tenfold than where I started this process.

SPEAKER_00

Your job is to uh this is the More You podcast where we're figuring out how to get by, you know, day by day. More of us, more of you, more of Chris, more of Dom, more of me. And it's just to figure out how to figure it out, really. Um we like to get people that are professional, elite, working hard, but still holding it together. So that's that's why we got Chris here.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, welcome, Chris.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you. Thank you for having me. A real pleasure and uh happy to be in this setting with both of you.

SPEAKER_01

So a lot of times we it's funny because a lot of times we kick this off with uh with an MD hyperbaric. Um uh just a kick. Can we record it live? Can we just do a live read? Yeah, the whole the whole podcast is about that. So we won't maybe do that for now, but we'll we we're gonna there's so many things we want to talk to you about. Obviously, um Ben and I are so pumped about um MD Hyperbaric. We're so pumped about what it can do, not only um not only just because of the science behind it and and the things that are are are really starting, I think, come to the mainstream about what this can do.

SPEAKER_00

Um hold on, actually, I'm gonna chime in. You know, I was telling Dom this before, Chris. Uh I was listening to a podcast by Brian Johnson, you know, the don't die guy. He's like the really wealthy guy. And he was like, I mean, he was essentially jacking off to HBot, they kept calling it. Him and uh he was on Chris uh God, I listened to him all the time.

SPEAKER_03

He's like, Will it uh was it him, Willinix or something like that?

SPEAKER_00

Um he's he's like a UK no no he's just from the UK, he's got like a podcast. Yeah, yeah, I know who that is, lifestyle podcast. But they were just like talking about how awesome it can make your skin. He's like, this is the best skincare treatment ever in the world. So I just collagen production.

SPEAKER_01

Before I was before I was pleasantly interrupted, I just want to say that we're super pumped to have you here because um you know Ben and I have been talking about MD-hyperbaric now like for several episodes, and to have you here and actually get deep on on I think some of the science. I think because Ben and I probably don't know all of it, and we want we would do really want to to understand it. Yeah. Um, but as they like to say, like we're also a member too, um, because we have a we have a chamber, we're super pumped about it. Um and it's there, but I think Ben, you can chime in here anywhere you want. Um what I do want to understand is how you got started with the business. I just I just like to take a second, just understand how you got started with this.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So my uh before I was involved in MD Hyperbaric, I was working in the wellness and recovery space. I was working for a large wellness franchise called Restore Hyperwellness. We were doing really at the time cutting-edge stuff, which was now mainstream. It was IR saunas and red light therapy and cryotherapy. Before it was super popular. And um, and about two and a half years ago, after after we grew to 250 locations in the US, I got a call from an orthopedic surgeon named Dr. Martin O'Malley, who had this little business called MD hyperbaric. And he wanted to meet and talk about what was working with it and how he could potentially expand it. And so I had a I had a meeting with him. I I had known about hyperbaric, I had used hyperbaric.

SPEAKER_00

To join him in there, Chris. He's uh he's orthopedics, right?

SPEAKER_03

He's an orthopedic surgeon, foot and ankle surgeon, with uh in in New York City with HSS, a very prominent health institution, and he's got his own private practice as well. He works with a bunch of professional sports teams and a lot of uh you know major athletes as well. That's how he heard about hyperbaric, was from his athletes who were like, You have a hyperbaric chamber? I want to get in after my surgery. Like, I hear this is really good for and so he started doing research on it. Anyways, he set up a clinic, kind of figured it out, did a ton of research, and uh was super successful with the clinic, brought me in and was like, let's go do more of these, let's let's go create more access. And uh and so two and a half years ago, that's what that's what I signed up for, and we we're we're at 13 locations today, we'll be close to 30 by the end of the year.

SPEAKER_01

So so was um was it a big shift for you like going like CEO startup mode rolling? Was that was that a like a big shift for you?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Restore was a small company when I joined. It's scrappy, right? And it takes a certain mentality to to want to dive into that, because as people, as as prominent founders have said in the past, starting a company is like chewing glass and staring off into the void. And it's a lot of pain at times, but it's very rewarding when you get these little increments, these little doses of success. This was obviously as small as it can be. I was an employee number one. Uh, and so uh, you know, taking something from its infancy and trying to work it and fail a million times just to find the right path. I learned a lot about myself through the process. I I think I've aged probably tenfold than where I started this process, but uh, I fell in love with it throughout the way. You know, what I've become capable of, what you know, surrounding myself with great people and ultimately driving towards an impact, that's what I've fallen in love with.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I think I think it's fair. Um people uh from an entrepreneurial entrepreneurship standpoint, you know, that are on the outside, it looks sexy as all hell. Yeah. Everyone's like, man, it's great. What I think a lot of people don't understand is that what I like to say is that I'm waking up from like the 52nd round every morning and I'm gonna go at it again. I'm just gonna go at it again, and it is really, really tough. Um, are you are you married? Do you have children?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, I'm married with two little kiddos, four and two.

SPEAKER_01

So it also what a lot of people don't realize, it takes a special you know, partner to be on the on the on the road too, because it's it's tough. Like my wife is honestly an absolute saint. Like the Vatican should be calling because they should put her into like sainthood. Like, I I don't know how you feel, but I don't know if that's for your wife, because it's a big step for your partner too, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it was a it was a conversation, right? Like before I stepped into this role and and knew what it was going to require of me and of our family, that was a conversation. It was are we up for this as a family? Like from a career aspiration, obviously, self-ish, like, yeah, I'd love to, you know, dive in and see see what I'm capable of and what impact I can make with the team. And but that that that's gotta have alignment, you know. And to me, that's the sick that's the key to to the healthy marriage, is con and that's not just a decision that's made at the beginning, that's a decision that's made almost every day. You know, what does it look like each day, especially with in my stage of life with little kids? It's like, okay, I've got it, I've got these calls. Can you do drop off? Can you do you know, it that's a constant choice every day to to find that balance, and it is a day-by-day pursuit for sure, and not easy. I'm sure you're sure you've you you felt the same sensation too.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my god. I mean, I actually before I when I knew this platform was gonna finally get off the ground, I actually took my family to dinner, and uh it was me and and my three kids. And I think at that point they were uh oh man, they were 15, 13, and like uh seven. And um I took them out to dinner and I said to them, I said, look, daddy's gonna go do this thing. Your job is to keep daddy being daddy, to make sure that I don't lose my soul. You know, and the older kids kind of at least kind of have understood what I was trying to tell them. I'm like, I don't want to lose myself when I do this, so I need you guys to bring me back. And I and I think that's held true. Like it's it's been so important for them to keep me on the road this entire time.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I it all comes back to your why too. You know, what what what's the anchor that's gonna keep driving you and propelling you? I mean, again, especially with my little kiddos, I I step out of my office and I like the stress melts away. You know, it's just like, all right, there they are. They don't care about the day I've had, right? They're ready to show me their monster trucks and all their toys and smash into things and roll around, and it's like, all right, you know, you gotta just put all that behind you and and really show up for them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. No, I that's that's really great. Um I want to jump in, if Ben and I can. We want it we want to hear it from the guy who really knows. Setting you up really well for that one. Yeah, good. What like for people that don't know and have never actually been in one, if we can explain like what hyper treatment hyperbaric treatments are and why they work. Do you mind just taking a moment on that?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, absolutely. So let me break it down just from the name itself, because actually the whole definition's in the name. So hyperbaric, which hyper means increased, baric is related to pressure. So increased pressure, and then oxygen therapy. So there's supplemental oxygen along with increased pressure. That's the mechanics of hyperbaric oxygen therapy. So what you're doing traditionally is you're you're you're laying or sitting in a chamber, pressurized chamber. Ours pressurized with ambient air, so they just fill with the air around them. And it gets to about uh, you know, 10 to 30 feet of seawater if you've ever gone diving before. And you have to clear your ears and that kind of sensation. But it's a very you know normal feeling of just like when you're in an airplane, you're clearing your ears and it's pressurizing in the chamber, and then you're breathing 100% oxygen through a mask. Some chambers pressurize with oxygen, but ours pressurized with air. What that does, when you're breathing, you know, normal ambient air, that oxygen is getting perfused into your red blood cells and it's going throughout your body for healing properties and just normal, you know, deliver of oxygen to tissues for recovery and whatnot from workouts or from injuries and cuts. With hyperbaric oxygen therapy, that additional pressure dissolves that oxygen that you're breathing, which is a higher percent of oxygen, 100% oxygen, in not just into the red blood cells, into the blood plasma and other parts of the body, which accelerates the body's normal healing process. So, whereas where you might heal from uh you know soft tissue injury or a surgery in a longer period of time by hyper-oxygenating through hyperbaric, you're going to accelerate the amount of oxygen into your bloodstream and deliver to the wound site.

SPEAKER_00

I told uh I think I told you this, Chris, maybe last week when I talked to you. Am I super loud or no? No, you sound very sexy. Yeah, um it's real sexy, Ben, actually. Can you take the tongue down a little bit? Um I've never been in trouble for having a soft voice, but my headphones are soft. But I think I told you this, Chris, uh, when I told you last week, I had a case and the woman was a smoker and the flaps were looking like super dusky, which can happen. Um uh and I had her. Yeah, she ended up doing um six dives in the hyperbaric. And I mean, I felt like I was cheating. I mean, this should have been a mess. I should have had to deal with the wound for a couple. I was like, oh fuck. Like when I saw her, you know, day three, I was like, oh man, this is gonna be a problem. I can manage it, there's things I can do, you know. Yeah, I mean, by day nine, ten, she was perfect. Like, you know, a little redness still, or you know, so it just was amazing what it accomplished. And it totally saved both of us. I mean, there wasn't any technical problem on my part. She was on the nicotine replacement, so she did all she could do to quit smoking. It's just kind of part of the game for for surgeries. But yeah, it was it was it was really amazing.

SPEAKER_03

And a lot of times that hypoxia or the low oxygen environments that can prevent wounds from healing can help be overcome by hyperbaric oxygen therapy because you're delivering extra oxygen to a hypoxic or low oxygen wound that's having trouble because wounds need oxygen, the tissues need oxygen to heal. And so delivering oxygen through that through hyperbaric is a great way to help accelerate or kickstart that process.

SPEAKER_01

Chris, we've been we've been um Ben and I have been telling everybody that like we're jamming oxygen into you. That's what we're doing. It's not that far off though, right?

SPEAKER_03

Like we're we're at a very, very core level, yes, that's effectively what we're doing. Maybe it doesn't sound a little intimidating that way, but uh yeah, in essence, that's what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. I thought it was really good, is is is is what you're saying is that you know we're we're creating this environment where we're we're getting all this oxygen in. It's it's being absorbed in a way that it it is it normally because it's under pressure, right? So right? And because of that, you're starting to get all of these um I guess kind of hyper healing effects is basically what's happening because it you're you're you're you're speeding everything up because of that, because it's it's it's it's now uh again, you've you've taken the healing, you put it in fast forward because you're actually jamming all this oxygen in there.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And that's just the kind of the core mechanism of how it works. There's a whole host of knock-on benefits from that, right? Like, not to get too technical, but you can get neovascularization, basically new blood vessel formation, which is again really good for healing, not only of just like uh tissue injuries like wounds, but also brain injuries and and really kind of reactivating parts of the brain. Ben talked about at the top about some of the skin benefits, right? Collagen production, skin elasticity, and other things like that. I mean, there's a whole host of benefits that are all natural benefits from using a natural therapy, and it's just going to help accelerate the normal processes within the body. But yeah, that that's effectively it. I mean, you're basically dumping more oxygen into the body where, especially in a time of need like an injury, your body's gonna really relish that extra oxygen.

SPEAKER_01

Got it. Okay, and then when we talk about the benefits, like what we've talked about now is healing. What are what are you know, what are all the common benefits?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so I I should say that hyperbaric is FDA approved for 14 indications. Hyperbaric's been around for literally hundreds of years. Its origins are traced back to the 1600s, if you can believe it. So this is not an overnight success story with hyperbaric. It's actually been around for a very long time. As you can imagine, pressure and oxygen have been around since mankind was developed. So, you know, the FDA has approved 14 indications, you know, non-healing wounds or diabetic foot ulcers, some pretty, some pretty critical conditions, you know, carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, or the Benz was kind of the original as well. But in the last 50 years, there's been this proliferation of research in, you know, the main mechanisms of hyperbaric to say, hey, this thing is actually really helpful in other areas of health, right? And and recently, in the last 10 years, longevity has been the big thing, you know, telomere lengthening. That's what Brian Johnson was looking at when we did his protocol for hyperbaric. So today, what we see, we we're primarily on the off-label side. So these are non-FDA approved conditions that we see. But there's four main patient categories for where we see our patients. Uh the first is in the post-surgical side or pre-post-surgical side, orthopedic and plastic surgery. Then there's the kind of the neurological side, so concussions and you know, post-stroke and other, as I mentioned before, the benefits for the brain. Then there's the wellness and longevity, which is, we'll talk about it, but a very emerging, very popular space as longevity in general has gained a lot of traction. And then finally, there's chronic conditions. These are long COVID, chronic Lyme, ulcerative colitis, other more internal chronic conditions. Those are the four main categories of patients that we see, you know, seeking us out for hyperbaric, and there's a variety of research across those different condition sets.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so it it's um I mean the post-surgical one, we obviously know like a lot of focus because of Dr. Ben and our business and those things. But the I thought I myself have gone for the concussion one and found it actually found it beneficial myself. Like I I was really impressed by that. I also had Lyme disease. It was very helpful for that. Oh yeah, man, I got I was I didn't know that. I didn't know you've done a prepared for both of those. I was messed up for a year on Lyme disease. Yeah, like it in my life was heavily affected for an entire year because of Lyme disease. It was it was really bad. And those types of symptoms, massive fatigue, um, brain fog, yeah, um, all those things. And it was it was really rough um getting through that. Um, but the but the hyperbaric definitely helped with that. Um when we talk about the wellness and longevity, that's the one I actually am I I want to talk about. You talked about telomer lengthening as as one thing. What what what what other benefits are there under that kind of wellness and and uh longevity session?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, there the the there are a lot of these are actually benefits that patients who come in for one reason will also notice, right, when they're going through treatment. So someone who comes in for post-surgery might say, Hey, I'm I'm sleeping a little better, or I'm feeling a little sharper cognitively. So most patients that that come to us for wellness or longevity are primarily fitting within either they they live a healthy lifestyle and they're trying to find balance or they're trying to give you know give themselves a little bit of an edge. Um, you know, patients report that they have better sleep, there's better skin elasticity and and and um you know just better skin clarity. Um you know, they're the big, big focus for folks is the cognitive function. You know, uh word recall, memory recall. Uh this is a huge thing I suffer with. Like I can I need to go do a whole dose of hyperbaric because at the end of a long day, my words are just like gone. Um and then better sleep as well. Like these are the things that folks are trying to really, from a wellness benefit, are using hyperbaric for. And there's again a range of studies looking at uh the benefits of hyperbaric for living a healthy active lifestyle. There's also other, like, you know, more on the like um endurance capacity side, like pretty significant athletes are using it to keep up their VO2 max and their endurance capacity.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, when you get out of the thing, you feel like you can run a marathon immediately.

SPEAKER_03

I'll tell you, if I do a course of treatments and I go back into the gym and do the same workouts I've always done, I feel like I'm like a different person. You know, I just feel like I can push a little extra weight and I have more endurance capacity. And we have a plenty of patients who are like marathon runners, triathlons, uh, and they they love it for a part of their recovery regimen around their workouts.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Um and when we I think people need to understand too, you you mentioned it, but I want to mention again, there is a ton of science around this. Like this isn't this isn't like a I don't want to say it's metaphysical or it's like no no no, there's real science. Yeah, it's been studied.

SPEAKER_00

That also brings up the point, Dom, you know, uh and Chris. I mean, there's the science is there, but you gotta be using the proper metrics. You gotta have the certain of depth, you gotta have the right number of oxygen uh percentage, you gotta do it for the right amount of time, you have to have protocols, you have to because you know machines surprisingly are not I mean they're expensive, but they're not crazy expensive. So anybody can get them, but if it's not done properly to the right levels and the right depths and the right oxygen, you're just not gonna get the benefits. It can also be done not safely as well, of course.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. So I was it's a great point. So with with the rise in hyperbaric is the rise of different types of chambers and applications of hyperbaric. And it's not all created equal. There's uh quite a proliferation as well of soft shell chamber, low pressure chambers that I can't say they don't have benefit, but we haven't they haven't really accurately measured the impact of soft shell or low pressure chambers that only get to 1.3 atmospheres. Most of the research is around 1.5 to 2.5 atmospheres. And atmosphere, you know, atmospheric pressure to break it down at normal sea level, you're at one atmosphere. So two atmospheres is double the normal atmospheric pressure. Uh it's like 33 feet of seawater. And that pressure combined with 100% oxygen, which again, not all chambers provide 100% oxygen. Sometimes they use little oxygen concentrators, they get the lower purity, is really what drives efficacy. And all of the research is based around that. So chamber selection and full setup of people who know what they're doing, trained and and and managing through a protocol, is really critical to benefits.

SPEAKER_01

Um, so Chris, I I just want to pick up on on what you're saying that too, is that You said all the research is really at this one point five to two point five um and that you do need that kind of pressure to get the real benefits and and that's where all the studies are. That's that's clarity that you you folks, you gotta look for this type of chamber.

SPEAKER_03

That's right. Yeah, and there's a lot of clinics that will kind of conflate the two, well, they'll say, well, here's the study for this, but they're not actually delivering on what the study parameters were with the right pressure or the right oxygen. It's all about sticking within that specific pressure range and using 100% oxygen. Obviously, what to look for in a clinic, there should be other things like a trained and certified staff, a medical director that's guiding the protocol, and the right frequency along that protocol. You know, hyperbarics done best done in consecutive sessions, especially, you know, uh Ben, when we're talking about pre-post op sessions, a lot of plastic surgeons will do one or two sessions pre-surgery, prime the tissues and hyperbarics.

SPEAKER_00

I've been researching in a little bit lately, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And then doing like three or four post-surgery sessions consecutively. Uh and that's what we that's what we do with all of our plastic surgery patients.

SPEAKER_01

And and I I also want to ask, like, the is the I know that the tanks that are full oxygen are a little bit more dangerous, like quite a bit more dangerous. Is there is there some benefit to a tank being full oxygen?

SPEAKER_03

So, yeah, one I I would say there there's there's a higher level of risk with those, right? It doesn't necessarily mean that they're inherently dangerous, it just means that there's a different level of risk with the pressurized oxygen chambers because instead of like our application where the chambers are pressurized with air and then you're breathing oxygen, you know, where the the ambient air within that chamber is basically atmospheric, uh, they're actually filling that chamber so much that it pressurizes with oxygen. Um and so that that that heightens the fire safety risk. So there's a number of requirements, both we apply, you know, we stick to as well as they have to stick to. Um typically, why you see those types of chambers are in a hospital environment where someone, you know, either can't wear a mask because of burns or other reasons, or these these chambers have gurneys in them, so you have people who have lower extremity injuries, like pretty significant ones, and they're gonna go into a chamber. So it's just it's just a very different clinical setting that frankly the risk is is um is greater from a fire safety perspective. Our chambers are much more spacious than those chambers, and they're also, again, pressurized with air, uh, a lower risk profile.

SPEAKER_01

What can you um what can you bring in with you uh when you go into the chamber?

SPEAKER_03

Uh you can bring yourself, you can bring the uh cotton clothing that we provide to you, and you can bring uh some reading material to keep yourself entertained. But no electronics, that's a huge safety aspect of hyperbaric. Again, anything that could create a spark, um, you know, we want out of the chamber. Um while we do have a lower risk chamber with the air pressurization, one, it's a code requirement and we want to keep everybody safe. And two, it's it's also just in the best interest of patients and the staff alike.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that makes sense. And it's a little bit of a zen time if you've ever been in the honestly, it's really good for people.

SPEAKER_03

Like besides the benefits, the pure mechanical benefits of hyperbaric, being away from your phone for an hour will do a whole heck of a lot of things.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I guarantee if there's like a blinded study and they don't they don't pressurize it and they don't give you oxygen, and you put somebody in a tank, like they're like, Oh shit, I feel a little bit better. Well, not quite as good, but a little bit better. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Oh man, I I will also power through a book when I'm in there. Like, am I I'm reading like at at you know, and you know how you listen to podcasts on 2x speed? I'm reading on 2x speed.

SPEAKER_01

I like it. Yeah, I was uh uh I was telling Ben that I I was um I was in there for 90 minutes, like alone, and just didn't ask it for anything, didn't want anything. I like forced myself to be in there by myself for 90 minutes. 90 minutes by myself is a long time. It is a long time, yeah. Right, but it was really great. I just felt better coming out. Yeah. Um and I wanted to talk about that. Like, how long um how long does it take to see or feel the results?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, great, great question. So obviously, the different conditions post-surgery is typically the shortest protocol, it's like that five, maybe up to ten sessions, depending on the healing quality. Um it's really giving you that accelerated boost of healing that your body needs to recover a little faster and potentially better. But some of the more chronic conditions or the more like acute or chronic like injuries, like uh neurological injuries, like concussion, can be longer stints, right? You're still gonna see progressive results. Like a lot of our concussion patients tend to see uh you know progressive results even after 15 to 20 sessions, but their protocols can be as long as 40 sessions. Uh, you know, there's some great testimony, very public testimonials about individuals like Joe Namath, who went and did a whole bunch of hyperbaric sessions because he had a lot of lights out concussions. I think he said seven lights out concussions, a whole bunch of you know parts of his brain that were completely deactivated. They did brain scans on him throughout his protocol, and he reactivated portions of his brain. But that was a pretty long protocol. He did about 120 sessions, which is a lot. That's more than what most people need. Now, most people aren't getting seven lights out concussions, but I think that just kind of gives you the scope and scale of, you know, it can be as little as five to ten sessions, depending on the condition. It can be, you know, on average closer to 40 sessions for folks with brain injuries and chronic conditions.

SPEAKER_00

And I don't know if you're I'm sure you'd have this at some of them, but for the longevity stuff, I think it's gonna be more of like subscription style, kind of sauna type stuff, like once a week, twice a week, three times a week. Yeah, that's right. We have you know, something like that.

SPEAKER_03

We have a program, a wellness program for folks who are looking to keep hyperbaric as part of a healthy lifestyle, and again, you know, push that edge in the gym or get better quality sleep or cognitive function. They typically come once or twice a week.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, makes sense. Um first of all, I'm I'm trying to get over the Joe Nama thing. I think it's just incredible. I mean, the fact that that was a very damaged brain. You know, that that you know, you're saying like there were sections that were completely deactivated and they got a lot of people.

SPEAKER_03

There's an incredible video he did on YouTube. You should you should look it up. I think he did it with like ESPN or something. It's it's pretty incredible. And then he actually, I think he went on Rogan as well and talked about it. It's uh it's pretty impressive what's what's happening.

SPEAKER_01

I'm just thinking, Chris, has there been any studies around dementia?

SPEAKER_03

There are a few. I will say that the research is a little lighter in some of those neurodegenerative areas. Um we do see patients for it. Um, you know, with every patient, we we talk through the risks, benefits of it, and the potential for outcomes. Uh, we do see a number of patients, frankly, some unbelievable testimonials of people who would have trouble walking and then after doing some sessions, a good course of hyperbaric have regained some of that motor skill function. And uh, you know, it's pretty unbelievable. Now, I can't necessarily endorse it broadly because the research still has to catch up, but from what we've seen in some of our patients, it's a pretty profound impact for folks.

unknown

Wow.

SPEAKER_01

This is exciting. You know, it seems like a hyperbaric has been around for a while, but it seems like it's now about to have its moment. Yeah. Is what it's like. I mean, I believe it. I certainly see it, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Like I have okay, so I every day I have conversations with patients, with our team, with prospective folks who want to open a hyperbaric clinic with MG hyperbaric. And um this the stories just kind of confirm most of the people we talk to now who want to open a business or who are undergoing treatment have heard from a family member, relative, you know, who have gone through hyperbaric edom, even like yourself, and it's like, hey, this thing made a huge impact on me. And it was because this person told me about it. And so there's just this network effect.

SPEAKER_00

How many employees are you, Chris? How many employees is your issue?

SPEAKER_03

I don't know across all of our locations. We're probably I don't know, we're 50 to 100. But um, but you know, we have every day I talk to prospective business owners, and it it's pretty unbelievable to see just the the connected web. Now, the big thing I think Dom suppressing the real takeoff of hyperbaric is is access to medical grade, right? As consumers are becoming more aware of hyperbaric, and they're there's great ambassadors of this, like Brian Johnson and other prominent figures who are shining a positive light on it, they're also credit to them saying, here's what you should be looking for, and here's what you should be doing with hyperbaric. And there's not enough places like that that exist yet who are providing medical-grade hyperbaric in a safe and effective way. So the supply, the access needs to continue to build to meet this growing interest and demand. And the the mix of those two factors will mean hyperbaric really has its its day.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and I want to talk more, by the way, folks. This is um mdhyperbaric.com. Make sure if you're actually looking for a session, you go to mdhyperbaric.com. Let's be sure of that. But do you see is there a potential flash point out there for hyperbaric to go completely mainstream? Is this a situation where you know we need some crazy influencer out there to all of a sudden start talking about it?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, Kim King's Kim K did it on her uh on her show. And uh I don't think there's as big of an influencer as her. I'm not saying that's necessarily you know the influencer for the hyperbaric community, but um, you know, I do think influencers and and public figures are good about sharing awareness, but I think at the end of the day it's about I I do think two things. One, the more on the ground in local communities lives that can be impacted by hyperbaric, that's really what grows it because then people have tangible benefits. Two, the more that the medical community can become educated about it and and aware of it and understand what to look for and how it could help their patients, those two factors I think will really give it a flashpoint. Um but the the in the meantime, the influencers and ambassadors are starting to really raise up the awareness of it and just put it into more mainstream vocabulary.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, because it seems, and Ben, maybe you can weigh in on this. I I feel like like the regular medical doctors are out there right now aren't uh completely hip to this just yet, in the sense of you know, this is a protocol that you should take. Like if I can't prescribe you're yeah, I can chime in here.

SPEAKER_00

You know, the the issue, the the general medical doctors, not necessarily you know GPs, but uh people who work particularly in the US um with insurance companies, they're kind of all planning, they they think about the world in that way, right? So they're not expecting somebody to come spend a couple thousand dollars to do all these dives. They just they don't think that way. So if it's not FDA approved, it's not gonna be covered by insurance. And so that's kind of the main issue. It goes for a lot of things. It goes for these full-body MRIs, it goes for some of these lab things we check, that whole the longevity space, health space, wellness space is is already hit its light or whatever you said, flashpoint. I mean, they they are there, it's here, everybody wants it, people are spending millions and billions of dollars on it, and the people like Chris want to be billionaires, so they're they're they're gonna they're gonna they're gonna provide. But these general practitioners, you know, they're in there and they're just they don't I think largely, unfortunately, I would say, you know, what in that Brian Johnson was talking about this, he said HBot, they kept calling it HBOT, which I was like, it took me a time. What the fuck is HBOT? Um but they H call it an HBOT. Um and and he said it's probably the most it was the thing that changed his markers. He's taking like thousands of body fluid markers, it's semen count, all these crazy things. And he said, but the bad part is it's expensive and access is really hard. So it's one of those ones that he doesn't even like to talk about that much because the large majority of people can't afford it or don't have access to it. Or so I think that's probably where that's right, you know.

SPEAKER_03

I think also yeah, the the two big factors that are detractors to it today is is limited insurance coverage and low access, which is what drives up the price, right? Supply and demand laws.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So and insurance is never going to cover from from a wellness perspective, not in the US at least. It's just they're not gonna do that. So but as the access goes up, the price will go down a little bit. And and it's not unreasonable, like two, three hundred dollars a dive. I mean, it's not cheap, it's not it's not like chump change, but you know, a large majority of people can can do it a little bit if they have a problem in the brain.

SPEAKER_03

So it's also to think about it, yeah, there's different needs for patients, right? Some someone who's using it for wellness uh may not have as great of a need as someone who had a traumatic brain injury concussion. I mean, the the value of your brain functioning the way that it should is it's difficult to really quantify that, right? Get back to your normal life. And so I know that it may seem an like an investment for folks, but it it is your health, you know, and and talking to physicians about options around hyperbaric, I think, is prudent for folks who are going through that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think it's it if anybody's listening, the the the the primary care doctors of the world, if somebody would just kind of bite it and and and get on this train, they could kill it. Because I mean, I think that's the hard part for patients, and it's why a lot of them end up going rogue and going to these places that aren't aren't um certified or whatever. That goes for hyperbaric, it goes for a lot of things. But you know, if a physician was involved in the process, they would be like, Oh, make sure you go to empty hyperbaric, they're gonna get you at the right you know, pressure, they're gonna get you their they're safe, da-da-da-da-da. But it when it's when it's when the when they don't, when the doctor's like, well, you know what, I don't really mess with that stuff, it's cash pay, sorry. Yeah, then they go on their own now. So it's just the reality of how the work is.

SPEAKER_03

But Ben, do you see I mean I'm sure this has happened in your specialty as well as what in other medical medical specialties that patients through enough persistence in bringing up a modality or a therapy end up causing the medical community to really take a hard look at what this therapy is and almost discern on should we should we embrace this trend or should we move away from it?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I think I mean we're cash pay cosmetic only, so I think we're I'm normally hip to it all, so they don't normally surprise me about anything. But yeah, and it's different. It's just the the the the real medical world, again, I'm speaking about the US healthcare, but yeah, it's it's a mess in so many ways. That you know, it's like I mean, you're asking these doctors to think about hyperbaric for wellness, and they're like, geez oh pizza, I'm trying to get this person their diabetic medication covered by their insurance. So it's like so.

SPEAKER_03

Hyperbaric isn't this big Johnson Johnson brand that can just go spend billions of dollars lobbying to say, put this on the approval list, right? Like it doesn't have that type of big deep pocket endorser, which is how the US healthcare system turns, right? And so unfortunately, at the the the the dismay of the patient who needs it, it's gonna be a slow-moving process to get some of these conditions covered. Also, the research dollars don't get poured in because of that, too.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, no. Yeah, it's a bit of a it's a bit of a complete shame because the preventative nature of what it can do uh it does actually save a bit of money in the in the long run. Um I think that's clear. I think the other thing is um I want to go back to something you said earlier because I think it was so dead on. You don't know what it means to actually lose your cognitive ability. It it is so traumatic. And I myself have experienced it with Lyme disease where brain fog is a strange thing. So if you've never had it to the real extent, is you start a thought and then the thought gets stuck. It's the oddest thing. You have a thought and it's it's almost like a mental energy thing. Like you you have that thought, but you can't carry on the thought. It gets a fog. And it is the scariest thing, it is uh it is so scary, it's so upsetting. Um and to be able to um you know heal that and not have that now. I mean, the thing I probably pride myself on is I'm I'm pretty cognitively I'm I'm very dialed in. Like I'm I'm sharp, I I can think, I can I can think on my feet. You know, those kind of things are so important. To lose that is just massive. Um and to be able to have it there, you know, I I think what you said, Chris, is so important you just don't understand how how important that is until it's gone.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, seriously, for sure. Right? I agree.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I'm hearing, I'm hearing um Ben's got the sniffles uh tonight.

SPEAKER_03

Great question. I went. Actually, here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01

No, it's okay. No, no, I'm not giving you shit. I'm not giving you shit, Ben. I'm gonna ask you got a point of this. I do get a little cold.

SPEAKER_03

Hyperbaric is almost the inverse. You want to be cautious about doing hyperbaric when you're sick. Because you're you're congested, right? As Ben is demonstrating for us right now.

SPEAKER_02

Your head might explode.

SPEAKER_03

You know what? I think we've got to pull back on some of this. Jaming oxygen in heads exploding.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, no, people like people like the extreme, Chris. That's how you do it, trust me.

SPEAKER_03

That's the medical term, exploding heads.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Oh, you know, do you know what?

SPEAKER_03

If you're congested, it makes it a little harder to clear your ears to equalize your ears. So, you know, if you again, if you've ever I mean, babies on airplanes, right? They always try to feed them bottles when they're taking off or landing because they can't clear their ears, and that's why they're screaming their heads off. Uh so that's just, you know, it's all about relieving that pressure in your ears, and it's harder to do when you're congested.

SPEAKER_01

I just thought I thought maybe it was a thing like if you felt a cold coming on or something like that, you know.

SPEAKER_03

You felt like a lot of antibacterial effects with hyperbaric, which is why it's helpful for Lyme because of the bacteria. Uh but uh I think if you can clear your ears, great. Then then no harm, no foul with hyperbaric. Uh it's just proceed with caution to make sure that people can tolerate it, right?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Ben, I want you to test this out, okay? So I'll get in tomorrow. Maybe not this one. This one's too far gone, brother. But like if you feel something kind of coming on, maybe if you go lay down in that hyperbaric for like an hour, like it's see if that could do a turnaround. No, I'm serious. I want to know. I wonder if that'll like that'll like turn things around. Yeah. Yeah, a little shot there. Um we talked about your family a little bit, and just I just want to talk about your just work-life balance uh again, just to just to put a bow on it here. You know, what do you do? It sounds like you're exercising how you do that.

SPEAKER_03

I am a very regimented person. I always like to joke that if someone were ever to stalk me and try to take me out, they would know where I am at each minute of the day. You know, I'm a very, very regimented. But that, you know, discipline breeds freedom for me. And so, you know, first thing in the morning, waking up, working out, doing CrossFit, and then getting home and seeing my kiddos and starting the day off right. Um, and my wife's a nurse, she works in a surgical center, and um, so you know, we we we have to find balance in in having two little kiddos and and both of us working. But um, I think at the end of the day, just finding those common meeting points as a family, always eat dinner together. That's a non-negotiable. We sit down at the dinner table, no devices, make eye contact, talk about our days. Just it's the things that can slowly melt away the built-up stress of the day.

SPEAKER_01

Big time, yeah. By the way, I'm so happy I'm hearing you do that with your young family. It's it is something that I have done. Yeah, me too, man. I think we're good husbands are a product of good life.

SPEAKER_00

I do it as well, but only because of my wife, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Let's not take credit for it. Let's just say we should go up to it. Let's be honest. Like it's all done more credit to them. Yeah, I'm eating the dinner. Yeah. We're freaking we're freaking uh you know, pedestrian bystanders here. So like um, but um no, but just you know what, we've eaten dinner as a family um any time. And I'll just tell you just a quick story on this kind of beautiful. Like, we've been doing this ever since they were born. It's always been like that, always will be like that. That when my kids came home from university this um this last Christmas break, they actually the two older ones that that are in university, they c they came back. And they were like, look, um, do you guys have plans? Because if if you don't have plans, we're not gonna make plans. Which was just made it. I looked at my wife and I was like, we we did this, like or did this when I was here.

SPEAKER_03

You're on stage accepting the Grammy.

SPEAKER_01

It's just so amazing. Oh my god, yeah. I mean, I just was so I was just so pumped. I was like, God, you guys want to be with us, but I I do think that's a big part of it. I think that that spending the time and and the dinner and having that structure for them is is so great for the kids to do. They know like that's gonna be cost.

SPEAKER_03

It's it's fun being at this stage of parenting. I'm sure both of you have experienced this before, but you know, my wife and I, before we go to sleep, we'll just sit and talk in bed, and oftentimes we'll talk about like what traditions do we want to create? Like, what are some of our favorite traditions from our childhoods? And then it's like we get to blank, we have a blank slate of traditions we create that hopefully are compelling enough traditions that they keep them coming back when they're older and make them look forward to things because those are always the things I think both of you guys probably have them too. Of like, I always look back on this thing that I did, and that was what reminds me of a feeling of home. And so it's unique to be in the stage of life where we're like, okay, looking outwards towards those traditions to say, what can we make in terms of traditions?

SPEAKER_00

It's it's a fun experience. And also, like, you also say, like, why the fuck are they sleeping? Oh my god, I wish they would go to sleep. Yes. My wife is very good about the sleep training too. That's another thing.

SPEAKER_03

If they it honestly, if they slept better, well, that's probably why they don't, you know, they don't sleep well, it's because the world population would get out of control.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I just want you guys to I just want you guys to wait for when your 21-year-old is coming home at four in the morning and him and his drunk friend have stumbled, like, and you find like a drunk friend on the floor, and and then you're in the same place, you're like, why the fuck can't they sleep?

SPEAKER_00

You know what? You could yeah, you could dump them in the hyperbaric chamber, sober them up a little bit.

SPEAKER_01

They've needed hyperbaric. Oh, we should talk about that.

SPEAKER_00

Hyperbaric is is for hangover. Uh is that a hangover helper? I mean, I would be willing to bet it is. I'm not gonna go on the record saying that.

SPEAKER_03

Then you can be our case study on this. Yeah. Snipples and hungover.

SPEAKER_00

Chris is uh is uh come up as a few years. Not on the FDA approved list, right? Yeah, we can yeah, we can see if the FDA, you know, you know, RFK, you might get it on there. Yeah, if you're ever gonna get it on, it'd be now.

SPEAKER_01

Um we usually ask this question a little probably different for you, Chris. Like you're out there in your travels and you're seeing stuff and you're you're you're so deep in the hyperbaric and all these things, and you're probably seeing like what's coming maybe around the corner or this or that. I and maybe you don't have an answer to this, but is there anything just that you think is absolute magic when it comes to this treatment, another treatment, uh other things out there, this in connection with something else, like anything that comes to mind?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, these things a combination there's a lot being done now around uh a couple of things. Some of the aesthetic treatments, especially like um some of the laser stuff and hyperbaric for for recovery. I think hyperbaric is just such a great adjunct for a lot of therapies. It's just gonna help enhance whatever that it's the perfect sidekick, right?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, you know, I think the the the bio the sculptures of the world, the radius, these these bio stimulus.

SPEAKER_03

Then there's even the ortho biologic stuff like uh stem cells and PRP. There's even some research coming out around fat transfer, it's gonna be a no-brainer.

SPEAKER_00

Like I told this person, I'm like, you got fat transfer. I mean, you don't gotta go in it, but um there's you know it's hard because the studies aren't there, I should do one. Um uh it needs to be like a twin study because you can't really half face it. But fat transfer, it's gonna the biggest, the hardest part for fat transfer is the survivability of the fat cells. So roughly 40-45% of the fat lives. But if you can bump it up to 55%, then that's a new thing.

SPEAKER_03

So that's where I think is really an interesting direction for the hyperbaric community because it's right now just kind of like a a side piece of uh of a healing or a procedure. But if you can make a true combination therapy where it's like, okay, you're gonna do that, you're gonna do hyperbaric, then a PRP, and then hyperbaric or whatever, you know, or or some other therapy combination, I think that becomes a really incredible uh combo. But more needs to be done on that.

SPEAKER_01

Very cool. Okay, and Chris, and then this is the last I'll take the other side of that.

SPEAKER_03

Um, if if you encountered something that's just complete bullshit, um I mean I wouldn't say I can't really pin down one, but there are so many things out there now that are coming out that I'm like, how did we get there? Right? Especially coming from the wellness space at Restore, the amount of modalities that I would due diligence on and investigate, it's like it's like these weird. Have you seen the movie The Substance? With uh Oh my gosh, it's no it's a pretty I've seen it. It's a unique, very unique movie. It's basically what's that? Is it new? Yeah, it's in the last couple of years. Is that a new movie? The Demi Moore movie. It's a horror movie. Oh, I think it's a good idea. I didn't know it was a horror movie. I don't like horror movies.

SPEAKER_00

I'm like, this is not a normal movie either. But it's especially adapted.

SPEAKER_03

Basically, she like went through this whole thing to try to like improve her looks. She was older, she wanted to look younger. But the whole point is like she took it too far. She did too many permutations of herself, and she looks nothing like herself. That's what's happening with some of these wellness modalities. There's like 10 permutations removed from its origin. And so now you've got these like five combination red light devices that do like 15 things, and like I just don't like we somehow have lost our way with some of these things. Maybe there's efficacy. They just seem to churn out so quickly that I think the it's compressing the effectiveness of some of these things. So I don't have one in particular, but I'm just seeing some of these things out there that are like, wow, this is unique. This is totally different than what it was two years ago. I eat bullshit is what he's saying.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah. Do you guys have like a horn for that?

SPEAKER_03

Like a bullshit section? Or like a bull sound or something? Wouldn't that be great? Get the sound effects. I'm surprised Ben doesn't have a little board soundboard there for like Resa, are you listening?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, sure. We need sound effects, okay? Can we get sound effects?

SPEAKER_01

That's uh that's more of that. Exactly. For everybody listening, um, we have been talking to Chris Neal, the CEO of MD Hyperbaric. MDHyperbaric.com is where you need to go. As everybody knows, we are huge supporters of that. Um, been a sponsor of the show, and we talk about it all the time. But how cool is it to have actually Chris here? By the way, I learned a bunch of stuff now that I can now talk about when I talk about MD Hyperbaric. Uh I actually took notes. That'll be a quiz later on.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but I got a good memory.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, but Chris, I just want to pre- I just want to say we appreciate you so much. Um we appreciate what you're doing, but we all really. Yeah, thank you for having me. Thanks for the invite. This is a lot of fun. Talk to us about this. Um this has been great, and there's just so many things I want to test now. Like, Ben, we need to get some drunk people in that chamber. I can supply those. Oh, oh, oh, we don't want him drunk, we want him hung over. But maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe you can get more drunk. Like you found a beer and you're like, hey, yeah, one beer, I'm drunk. Yeah, yeah. We gotta test both of those things out, anyways. Um, but Chris, we really pressurized it with like marijuana smoke instead of it. Ben, Ben, one test at a time. Um, I got the keys to it. Don't worry, I got the keys to it. Chris, this was so awesome. We wanted to say that. Thank you so much for coming on and and enlightening us on hyperbaric chambers and what you do. Mdhyperbaric.com, www.mdhyperbaric.com. Quit waiting. Go make it happen. Thanks, guys. Thanks.