Ozone gas associated with global warming could be the newest treatment for sore backs. The latest study has found that ozone jab in the spine can ease your back pain by shrinking the tissue. Ozone gas is naturally occurred in atmosphere of the earth, where it protects us from harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.
For the purpose of treatment, it is created in lab in liquid form and then combined with oxygen. It is now being tested as a means to treat slipped or herniated disc pain. Discs are the protecting circular pads of cartilage, situated in between the vertebrae in the spine, where they act as shock absorbers.
These discs steadily lose their water content over the years that make them less flexible and prone to injury. It can be happened by heavy lifting, bending or simply due to age-related wear and tear. Consequently the strong external case of a disc can divide, allowing the soft inner core to bulge out. It typically occurs in the lower back.
The existing treatments for the condition include physiotherapy and painkillers, but if pain persists for longer than six weeks then surgery may be considered. In a clinical trial by researchers from the Doctor Negrin University Hospital, Spain, the treatment is being given to patients suffering slipped discs and compared with a control group who receive a placebo treatment.
It was found that those who were given the ozone therapy were twice as likely to be pain free in comparison to those in a control group. It is believed that ozone treatment works by reducing levels of prostaglandins, which are compounds in the body that trigger inflammation and pain.
This helps shrink the disc tissue in order that it no longer presses on surrounding nerves. With the new treatment, the patient is first anaesthetized then doctors use minute cameras to guide a needle to the damaged disc, where the gas mixture is injected. Ozone-oxygen jabs, which are simply invasive, appear to safely and effectively relieve pain.
There have been more than twenty studies on ozone/oxygen treatment and although several show fairly positive results in terms of reducing pain, but it has not been accepted as a mainstream treatment for degenerative disc disease, stated Jane Tadman from Arthritis Research, UK, while commenting of the research.
Perhaps the further studies will provide proof that this therapy can offer relief for the pain of degenerative disc disease without the need for surgery, added Dr Tadman.