What You Need To Know About Ozone Therapy For Back Pain
Ozone therapy is a procedure that is used to treat chronic back pain. This is a newer form of treatment that involves placing injections into the spine to help it heal. If you have considered ozone therapy for your back pain, you should know the following:
What Does Ozone Therapy Consist Of?
Ozone treatment uses a less stable form of oxygen to treat a medical condition. This treatment has been studied to treat several different conditions, including back pain. The oxygen treatment, still being studied, is injected directly into the area. Research shows that the oxygen molecules create a chemical reaction that can help decrease inflammation and pain.
Why Is Ozone Treatment Ideal for Back Pain?
Back pain can be debilitating. It also can be difficult to overcome back pain, even with surgery, medication, and physical therapy. Back pain, particularly spinal pain can cause major physical limitations. Those with this condition cannot be as physically active as they would like or have to stop doing some of their favorite activities altogether.
The disks between the vertebrae can press onto the spinal nerves and cause significant pain. Ozone treatment has been studied in a number of spinal conditions. Respondents to the treatment typically report lower symptoms.
Are There Risks of Ozone Therapy?
There are always concerns with any experimental treatment. You could experience infections, septic shock, and spinal abscesses. More rare potential side effects include heart damage and other cardiac problems.
How Does Ozone Therapy Work?
Before you can have ozone injection therapy, you first must meet certain criteria set out by the procedure. The criteria include testing prior to selection, participation in the injection, and participating in all follow-up care.
Once you are approved, you will have the procedure in an operating room. You will receive anesthesia and the area of the injection site will be cleaned. The oxygen is placed via a needle into the area where you experience pain. The doctor uses real-time imaging to guide the needle into the disk. The doctor then watches the gas as it goes into the proper areas. You may need to stay overnight in the hospital with regular neurology exams to make sure the spine is functioning properly.
After the treatment, you should be able to go back to your daily activities within a week or so. The efficacy of the procedure is different for everyone. Since the treatment is still being studied, it is not known if everyone will have the same reaction. Some may feel better while others notice no difference at all. For more information, contact a professional such as Gary Jett, MD.
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