Ozone therapy for herniated discs. The treatment by Dr. Antonio Carlo Galoforo is successful in more than 80% of the great many patients suffering from back pain due to this sort of disc pathology.
Back pain can be a distant memory with ozone therapy. Over 80% of all patients who have undergone this treatment have reported excellent results. Antonio Carlo Galoforo is the physician in Brescia (Italy) who introduced this application of ozone to cure a wide range of medical conditions, including the widespread affliction of the herniated disc that is the cause of back pain in so many people.
“The rise of oxygen/ozone therapy, and the acquisition of supporting clinical data, has made it possible to treat a great many herniated discs without surgery in more than 80% of all cases,” Dr. Galoforo explains. Practically speaking, the therapeutic properties of ozone work on the delicate complexity of the herniated disc with the same sort of success that Galoforo has seen in his work in Africa treating such a grave disease as the Buruli ulcer.
“There are several theories to explain the mechanisms underlying ozone’s action on a protruding disc,” says Antonio Carlo Galoforo. “To get somewhat technical, we could say that, within the nucleus pulposus, there is a mucopolysaccharide matrix that traps micelles of water that cannot be compressed and which give the disc its peculiar hydrodynamic properties.” He adds, “Ozone oxidizes the mucopolysaccharies and eliminates the water, thereby decreasing the volume of the hernia.”
To this scientific explanation we can add its anti-inflammatory action and ability to improve localized oxygenation by improving micro-circulation. Based on these results, numerous clinical studies have been conducted that point to the technique’s ability to treat herniated discs (in more than 80% of cases) as the primary therapy, thereby avoiding surgery. It should also be said that, even in patients who have undergone unsuccessful surgeries, the “magic” of ozone—as some have begun to call it—works impressively well.
And how are the wonders of ozone administered in order to treat back ache, the blight of today’s sedentary lifestyle?
“The therapy calls for a cycle of 8–10 biweekly sessions,” Galoforo explains. “The patient lies down and the area to be treated is disinfected. Two infiltrations of a carefully dosed combination of oxygen and ozone are administered directly into the muscle surrounding the herniated disc. Because this simple therapy is non-invasive, the patient can return to the normal routine of their day after just a few minutes. The results are clear, not just in the subjective improvement in symptoms, but also in objective x-ray verifications.” Dr. Antonio Carlo Galoforo concludes, “In essence, and in light of our current knowledge, oxygen/ozone therapy plays a key role in a conservative treatment of herniated discs.”
OZONE
This gas, with its distinctive odor, occurring under particular atmospheric conditions after a thunderstorm, has been known since the antiquity, with Homer writing of it in the Odyssey. In medicine, ozone-based therapy has been used for therapeutic purposes since the early 1900s. During World War I, the disinfectant properties of ozone were used to treat gangrene and infections in gunshot wounds. Following the production of more technically advanced equipment able to produce clean ozone, the first works were published on the therapeutic use of ozone on humans.
In other countries, such as Germany and Switzerland, oxygen/ozone therapy has been used successfully for around 50 years. Oxygen/ozone therapy was introduced in Italy for the first time in 1983, when the Scientific Society for Oxygen/Ozone Therapy (SIOOT) was established. A great many medical professionals are members of this association, which organizes conferences and university courses and publishes literature to promote the many uses and applications of this therapy, which has no side effects.
Ozone is a natural molecule that forms in the stratosphere, at an altitude of 30 kilometers (18.6 mi), when ultraviolet rays from the sun react with oxygen in the atmosphere, causing three molecules of O2 to create two molecules of O3. It is an allotrope of oxygen and has antiseptic properties that have been long been taken advantage of in industry to disinfect water. In medicine, ozone is used in combination with oxygen so that the O3 is used in concentrations that are 30 times lower than in industrial uses.
As an instable gas, ozone must be produced at the same time as its intended use. Medical ozone has a great many properties due to the ability to modulate its concentration in oxygen and to the diverse range of methods of administration.
FIELDS OF APPLICATION
•Human medicine
•Veterinary medicine
•Production of drinking water
•Purification of water for swimming pools
•Air purification and deodorization
•Industrial waste purification
•Plant sterilization and decontamination
Oxygen/Ozone Therapy Unit
Medical Service SMAO
Castiglione delle Stiviere MN
Tel.0376.671992
By: Raffaella Visconti
