ALLEN PARK -- Some pro athletes pimp out their cribs with indoor bowling alleys. Others go for movie theaters or tennis courts or oversized garages.

Louis Delmas? He dropped $25,000 on a hyperbaric chamber, which delivers concentrated doses of oxygen to the bloodstream. And there's an electric stimulation machine, which sends currents through his body via small electrodes.

There's even an ice machine, like the ones in hotels.

"You walk into my house, you'll think I have a whole hospital in that bad boy," the Detroit Lions safety said.

Louis Delmas has his knee feeling good, despite chronic problems.

Delmas is projected to start Sunday when Detroit opens the season against the Minnesota Vikings. But it has taken a whole lot of TLC to get him to this point.

The fifth-year player suffers from chronic knee pain, a condition the Lions were aware of when they drafted Delmas out of Western Michigan in 2009.

He played 15 games each of his first two seasons and became a fixture of the defense. But the past two years, the pain has caught up to him.

Delmas played 11 games in 2011, then just eight last year as he dealt with more issues in his left knee. Just how bad was it?

"There's no point in going into that category. It was pain," he said. "If anyone knows what kind of dude I am, they know I'd give my right arm to go out there and play with my left."

Delmas said he reached a low point when he realized his knee pain would ail him for the rest of his career.

"I grew up with the sport and the sport is my life," he said. "For me to not be able to play and sit out there on the sideline is really playing with my life after football or life and death, as far as how I look at it."

Delmas has begun taking better care of his body, which has helped improve his health. That includes investing $25,000 in an at-home hyperbaric chamber, which allows him to breathe 100 percent oxygen under increased pressure conditions.

That combination spreads oxygen deep into body tissues and promotes healing.

Delmas spends anywhere from a couple hours to a full night in the chamber, depending on when he enters it. He sometimes sleeps in it.

For Delmas, it's been money and time well spent. He woke up two weeks ago with no pain for the first time in a long time, giving him confidence in his body heading into this week's opener.

"To be honest with you, a couple weeks ago I didn't expect it to be as good as it now," Delmas said. "But my knee feels great right now. I'm feeling very confident about. I feel like it's my rookie year again and I'm very excited.

"About two weeks ago I finally woke up with no pain -- after icing it of course -- but I finally woke up with no pain and it was very stable. I'm very excited."

Delmas was always expected to be available for Week 1. The overarching concern is how many games he'll play after that. The risk of re-injury is great in a case like his.

Can he play 16?

"You be a damn fool if you're going to ask me if I can play 16 games. I'm going tell you I can!" Delmas exclaimed. "Now whether that happens, who knows. The way I'm feeling right now, I can go 16. But you never know. I can trip and fall on my ankle and get a sprained toe.

"So you never know. But my goal right now is to play 16, and 17 if we go to the playoffs."