Coach Les Miles Endorses HBOT
BY SCOTT RABALAIS
The more oxygen you put into your system for a variety of things the better it is,” Miles said recently. His personal revelation led Miles to start peppering LSU’s medical staff with questions about the potential of oxygen treatment for injuries. Eventually, it led Miles to the discovery that a pair of doctors in New Orleans, Paul Harch and Keith Van Meter, were at the forefront of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Harch is the director of the LSU School of Medicine’s Woundcare and Hyperbaric Medicine department. Van Meter is the school’s chief of Emergency Medicine. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the use of 100 percent oxygen at prescribed pressure and for prescribed durations to help treat a variety of injuries and ailments.
As it turned out, Van Meter and Harch have been working to treat sports injuries since the 1980s.
According to Harch, Van Meter got a small grant in 1989 to help treat Louisiana boxers with brain injuries. Professional demands pulled Van Meter away from the project, which Harch then combined with his work on helping commercial divers with brain injuries.
