Alpine Mobile Physicians

Altitude Treatment & Training Center

Alpine Mobile Physicians’ Research Center exhibits a new state of the art altitude simulation chamber. This center has the capability of replicating conditions slightly above sea level and altitude elevations up to 18,000 feet. More common and less advanced technology is the hyperbaric chamber, which uncomfortably works by changing pressure conditions. The technology of forcing pressure changes has recently stirred criticism in the medical field of expertise. More beneficial is to simulate the oxygen conditions of different altitudes, which is what our altitude clean room achieves in a normal baric environment by increasing or decreasing the percentage of oxygen in the air and adjusting the climate conditions to very accurately simulate the environment that would be experienced at a desired altitude. Currently, these advanced altitude chambers are only available in a select few U.S. Military bases and prestigious research centers around the United States including Harvard, The Mayo Clinic, US Olympic Association, and Nike Sports Research. Alpine Mobile Physicians is the first medical practice to bring this advanced technology to this portion of the Colorado western slopes. This will greatly aid us in our ongoing treatment, training, and research efforts to assist our patients.

High Elevations:

Research has proven, that training at high elevations provides a competitive advantage to athletes by allowing the physiology of the body to adjust to an environment with less than optimal oxygen requirements. These adverse environments can provide an opportunity for the body to adapt and adjust to conditions that will be more difficult than the competition environment required to perform in. Our altitude simulation chamber allows training at altitudes higher than any place in the contiguous United States. The chamber is also useful for individuals that will be traveling to higher altitudes for competition or recreation. It is an invaluable resource to be able to see how an individual will react to high altitude in a safe controlled environment.

Low Elevations:

Acute mountain illness, commonly referred to as “altitude sickness”, is very common around the Rocky Mountain regions at elevations of approximately 8,000 feet. If not treated it may develop into life threatening conditions called acute pulmonary edema and acute cerebral edema. The best medical course of action is not always immediate descent; but to receive proper diagnosis, treatment and to evaluate your response at this environment. However, our altitude simulation chamber can accurately simulate lower elevations than any point in Colorado and provide the safe medical environment needed for recovery. In addition, flu-like symptoms and acute mountain illness may have very similar symptoms, which is why taking an individual to lower elevations can provide a useful diagnosis of what may be the etiology of what component is actually producing the symptoms. Last, athletes that live in the Rocky Mountains that are headed to sea-level for competition are not able to physically exert their bodies as hard as they may need to when they go down to lower elevations, specifically when it comes to the large muscle groups and lactic acid thresholds. Training in the altitude simulation chamber will allow athletes to overcome this potential drawback of conditioning at higher altitudes.