The majority of women with fibromyalgia who underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy experienced relief from pain and other symptoms, according to a study published in PLOS ONE.

Brain scans of the patients showed that two months of hyperbaric oxygen therapy may have also repaired abnormal brain activity in pain-related areas of the brain, the researchers said.

“Seventy percent of the patients could not be categorized as suffering from fibromyalgia at the end of the treatment,” said study author Dr Shai Efrati, director of the Sagol Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Research in Tel Aviv, Israel. “The good correspondence between the physiological improvements and the changes in brain functionality … make the results particularly convincing.”