Every day in the United States, an estimated 17.5 veterans die by suicide, according to the VA's 2025 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report. Behind that number are invisible wounds: traumatic brain injuries sustained from blast exposure, PTSD rooted in combat trauma, and neurological damage that standard treatments have struggled to fully address. A growing body of research is now examining whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy may help, though it is not FDA-cleared for TBI or PTSD, and the evidence remains an area of active study.
This post covers what the research actually says about HBOT for veterans: not anecdote, not hype, but peer-reviewed clinical evidence. It also covers how RxAir360 and our CARE nonprofit are working to make this treatment more accessible for those who served.
The Invisible Wounds Veterans Carry Home
Modern warfare has changed the nature of combat injury. While physical wounds are visible and treatable, the neurological damage caused by blast exposure, including improvised explosive devices, artillery, and repeated concussive events, often goes undetected on standard imaging.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is now recognized as the signature wound of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. An estimated 414,000 service members have been diagnosed with TBI since 2000. Many more go undiagnosed. Symptoms include chronic headaches, memory loss, difficulty concentrating, irritability, sleep disruption, and cognitive decline, often persisting for years or decades after the initial injury.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects an estimated 11 to 20 percent of veterans who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. It manifests as hypervigilance, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and social withdrawal, and it frequently co-occurs with TBI, making both conditions harder to treat in isolation.
Standard treatments such as psychotherapy, medication, and cognitive behavioral therapy are valuable and necessary. Some researchers have proposed that for veterans with underlying neurological damage, those approaches may not fully address the neurological component of their symptoms, and that a therapy targeting brain tissue directly could play a complementary role. That hypothesis is where HBOT research has focused its attention.