First off please allow me to say that I do not own one of these (i wish!), nor do I have any investment in any way in one.
All I can say is that it returned to me my mobility and I wish to pass along the information in case someone else is suffering.
This is a CVAC Pod. It's a hypobaric chamber that uses air temperature and pressure changes to simulate altitude changes. A bunch of celebrities and pro athletes use them. If you'd like more information just do a search. There aren't many of them around yet, mainly in celeb/musicians/athletes homes, but the word is getting out because it works. Trust me on this.
I'd like to tell you my story - I'll hit the highlights and be brief.
I have an incomplete spinal cord injury at C7 which rendered me paralyzed twice with pain and spasticity over 80% of my body. I've had two surgeries, the first in 2013 and can now walk and conduct my day-to-day business. I'll not bore you with all the details but suffice it to say that it is astonishing how much pain the human body can withstand and for how long.
I began sessions in the CVAC Pod approximately 6 months after my second surgery, which was a posterior laminectomy (I prefer not to dwell much on that memory). For me, results were immediate. Immediate. After three, five minute session on Tier 1 - the intro level - my pain had lessened at least 20% which, in turn, lessened my spasticity which, in turn, lessened my pain. I was giddy, to put it lightly. I completed 45 minutes of sessions that day and the next night I attended a concert and stood for more than two hours with very little pain, relatively speaking! It was simply incredible and too good to be true, I thought.
In the following weeks, I continued the sessions but began experiencing a ramp-up of pain but this time it was an all-over, deep, deep aching pain combined with tingling and shooting pains in my legs and arms. I recognized it as nerve regeneration and that meant my cord was healing! The Pod helped my pain in one way, but increased it in a second. I'll take the second way any day. After some months passed, I noticed I was having less of that pain and I continued my sessions in the Pod but I seemed to hit a plateau around the end of the year. The following Spring, 2015, I decided that what I lacked was a support network, so I set out to create one. I found a fantastic Physical Therapist, later known as the Spawn of Satan, a Physiatrist, and a Massage Therapist. I was, of course, already under the care of a neurologist.
It was hell.
The CVAC helped me through the PT by reducing post-therapy pain and stiffness, as well as pain relief. Oh, that blessed pain relief! I completed my time in The Chamber, as the SOS's office came to be known, and was dismissed with flying colors. I then made a formal apology for calling him the Spawn of Satan on Facebook and promptly joined the Y.
Presently, I work out, a mix of gym and pool, three times per week and hit the Pod one to three times per week. I get a massage every other week to help my range of motion and break up all the crap in my muscles so that the CVAC can do its thing and flush it all out of my system. Detox in the form of elimination, achiness, and malaise is not uncommon after the massage/Pod combo. Sleep is much deeper and restful after a session, too.
Where I was once completely numb, I now have sensation to varying degrees all over my body, and while the spasticity remains it is so much less than before and in many ways is more controllable. I know that there is no way I would be as mobile, strong and as comfortable as I am today without the use of that Pod. While I will continue to be limited, in many ways, both physical and mental, I am stronger than ever before and I have a spinal cord injury, exceptional healthcare providers, and the CVAC Pod to thank for helping me reach my goals.
This is the main website somewhere in Cali (https://cvacsystems.com)
This is the one I use in Tennessee (https://newhopewellness.net)
Peace.
