
In the world of Dragon Ball, healing from battle wounds is as easy as stepping into a “Medical Machine”—and voila! In about 30 to 40 minutes, you’re back on your feet, fully recovered. It sounds like pure fiction, but in the real world, there’s something surprisingly similar: hyperbaric oxygen therapy. It’s used to speed up healing by pumping high-pressure oxygen into the body. Just like those Dragon Ball machines, it targets rapid recovery, especially in cases of injuries or even certain toxins in the body.


Dr. Kazuyoshi Yanagishita, an expert in hyperbaric oxygen therapy and a professor at Tokyo University of Science, weighed in on the similarities between the Medical Machine and real-world recovery techniques. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used to treat a variety of conditions, from carbon monoxide poisoning to decompression sickness (think scuba divers who come up too quickly). The goal is simple: flood the body with oxygen to rapidly expel harmful gases and improve symptoms in a fraction of the usual time.
This method has also found a niche in the world of sports. Athletes use it to recover quickly after injuries, and according to Dr. Yanagishita, those who use the treatment can return to action 25% faster than if they had waited for natural healing. It seems that the concept of Dragon Ball’s Medical Machine is closer to reality than we might think!


But could we actually get a machine that heals wounds like the ones in Dragon Ball? Dr. Yanagishita says we’re not quite there yet. For now, hyperbaric oxygen therapy can’t fully heal wounds in a few minutes, but with advancements in drug delivery systems (DDS), where medicine is directly delivered to specific areas, we could be on the path to something similar. Imagine a device that administers medicine so quickly and efficiently that it heals wounds in record time. Maybe one day, that Medical Machine could move from fantasy to reality.


Interestingly, the Frieza Army’s warriors might have more in common with rugby players than you think! Just like athletes enduring constant physical strain, Frieza’s warriors (who seem to heal after every brutal battle) would likely benefit from rapid recovery techniques, similar to how rugby players use hyperbaric oxygen therapy to get back on their feet after a match. In fact, many athletes rely on these treatments right after games to ensure they’re ready for the next one.
The future of recovery technology may not involve magic Dragon Ball-style machines just yet, but with continuous research, who knows? Maybe that “thinking” in Dragon Ball could spark the real-world innovations that will someday bring us closer to healing at high speeds.