Hyperbaric therapy is Tahoe’s newest health treatment. 

Tahoe Hyperbaric, located inside Kensho Wellbeing by Camp 1 fitness in Truckee, has found its niche in Tahoe/Truckee’s growing wellness community. It even caught the attention of a world-class super middleweight boxer, who made a pitstop while visiting the gym.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) makes use of oxygen’s healing capabilities. Although only FDA-approved for a select few diagnoses, Tahoe Forest Health System Chief Medical Officer Brian Evans states that breathing near 100% oxygen (the air we breathe only contains 21%) while in a pressurized hyperbaric chamber increases oxygen delivery throughout the body and can improve wound healing and injured tissues.

Tahoe Hyperbaric owners Michael and Jessica Canon began the business after their own positive experiences using hyperbaric therapy for neck stenosis and Lyme disease. Michael, who didn’t want to use Botox and pharmaceuticals, said he and Jessica turned to naturopathic answers.

“Beneficial outcomes (when used for appropriate indications) include faster wound healing, reduced risk of limb loss for severe diabetic foot ulcers, improved outcomes after certain radiation injuries, and reversal of pressure/embolic injuries,” said Evans.

Though Tahoe Forest does not provide HBOT services, Evans recognized the positive clinical evidence for approved medical uses, such as for treating skin grafts. He further noted that there is limited evidence for non-FDA-approved uses. 

The Canons said they felt the positive impacts of HBOT early on in their own treatments, and the lack of HBOT treatments in the Tahoe area encouraged the couple to provide a solution rather than continue driving to Reno.

“We feel that even though there’s a relatively small number of disease processes that are approved for treatment, we feel there’s a lot of evidence that it helps with a much wider range of health issues,” said Michael.

Being claustrophobic, it helps Michael that the chamber they purchased is roomy enough for a comfortable chair and an ottoman. The chamber also delivers oxygen through a mask rather than filling entirely with the gas, which reduces the risk of sparks. Tahoe Hyperbaric’s chamber generally increases the atmospheric pressure to the equivalent of two of Earth’s atmospheres (2.0 ATA), allowing for greater oxygen absorption in the blood.

“We’ve been doing research on it for a year and it’s amazing how many things it helps,” Michael said. “[The treatment’s] just been kind of guarded and hidden in the background in hospitals for severe burn victims, radiation victims, surgical victims, because it repairs skin really quickly.”

Part of the couple’s hope for Tahoe Hyperbaric is to make the treatment more accessible to the Tahoe community. Michael said that by June, barely four months after opening, they reached 100% occupancy and now plan to expand from their singular chamber. 

“We want to be able to give back a little bit and help people out,” Jessica said.

The Canons aim to open their second location in Incline Village in January 2026. Additionally, they’re working to make an ADA accessible chamber, and they don’t bar entry to those who can’t afford it, providing discounted and even free sessions for some. 

Joe Miller, a 78-year-old Tahoe Hyperbaric patient, has had multiple traumatic brain injuries throughout this life. He commented that his family seems susceptible to traumatic brain injuries, and was encouraged by his paramedic and firefighter son to try hyperbaric treatment. To prevent further neurological degradation, Joe and his wife committed to HBOT. 

“Both of us just feel more lucid,” Miller said. “You feel kind of more aware — I guess just greater level of awareness and greater level of connection to this experience that we call ‘just living moment by moment.’”

The Millers now go to Tahoe Hyperbaric regularly, with plans to complete 30 sessions each over two months. Miller emphasized that it makes sense that hyperbaric treatment works. Having worked developing medical rehabilitation centers, Miller said traumatic brain injury patients generally had to learn to live with their condition. Perhaps things are different now. 

Though traumatic brain injuries aren’t FDA-approved for treatment, Tahoe Hyperbaric’s telemedicine consulting doctor, chiropractor Dr. William Buhram, said hyperbaric treatment is great for brain injuries because of its anti-inflammatory nature.

“We’re treating the body for the inflammatory process because the hyperbaric medicine — with going down 2 ATA — has the ability to create an endogenous effect on the body,” Buhram said. “The arteries are able to carry 10, 20 times more red blood cells to every tissue in the body, including the brain.”

Miller said that while the treatment’s functionality is subjective, he believes he and his wife have felt improvements to their brains’ executive function because of their hyperbaric treatment.

His most recent brain injury was sustained on Aug. 2 while riding his bike to Coffeebar on Jibboom Street, where he hit an improbable crack in the road. Though he does not remember the crash, he reportedly went over the handlebars. Miller recounted four severe concussions throughout the years, which left him unconscious or with amnesia, and how he has noticed a difference in his cognitive function.

“It’s now 10 weeks post-injury and we’re now three weeks post-initiation of the HBOT,” he said. “Things simply feel more clear to me.”

All of the patients Moonshine spoke with felt some kind of effect from their treatments, whether it was reduced pain, stronger immune systems, or improved ability to rest. Birgit Johnston, who fractured her tibia in a downhill ski accident, noticed that she was experiencing quicker recoveries after workouts and better sleep after her HBOT treatment. She said her Oura ring (a smart ring used to monitor activity and sleep) also tracked a lower resting heart rate, which she attributes to HBOT. 

“It made it easier to get back to doing the activities I love doing — which is great for mental health,” Johnston said. “As you know, we all love being outside in Tahoe!”

While Johnston has now resigned herself to Nordic skiing, another patient, Sean Reagan, dreams of making it to Alaska in the spring. He suffered an injury after taking a ski to the knee last February. He managed to get back out on the slopes at the end of the season, powering through on mostly one leg, but hopes to use his continued treatment to get back to 100% strength and go on the trip up north.

“I felt like I was months ahead on my knee recovery,” Reagan said. “The original diagnosis was, like, six to 12 months before you can get on skis.”

Reagan also considers his sessions a potential preventive measure for dementia. In fact, medical doctors see more clinical evidence for the effects of hyperbaric therapy on dementia and Alzheimer’s.

“Preclinical and small clinical studies have explored HBOT for cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s-type pathology and have shown some promising signals in limited trials,” Evans said. “But the evidence is preliminary.”

He also noted that, while promising, HBOT is currently not a medically accepted treatment for Alzheimer’s. However, Buhram emphasized that hyperbaric treatment is still in its infancy. Even though there haven’t yet been enough clinical trials, that does not mean it doesn’t work. Buhram also spoke of the power of pharmaceutical companies when it comes to diagnoses and treatment. He sees HBOT as an alternative to pharmaceutical treatment, believing it can treat “pretty much everything under the sun.” 

“[It’s] been really exciting to say we brought something, we offered it up, people are trying it and it’s actually helping,” Jessica said.