Ozone Injections for Pain Relief and Tissue Repair
Ozone is created for medical purposes with an ozone generator that takes oxygen from a tank and exposes it to an electrical spark. This creates two single oxygen ions, which then attach themselves to two O2 molecules to create two O3 molecules. The ozone gas can then be drawn into a syringe to be used for injection into any part of the body that has chronic inflammation and pain.
Ozone injections can be used for chronic neck or low back pain, shoulder tendonitis/bursitis, tennis elbow, knee pain from patello-femoral pain or arthritis, jaw pain from TMJ, chronic trigger points in any muscle of the body and even in the hands or feet that have soft tissue pain syndromes. Virtually all musculo-skeletal aches or pains that have persisted for over two months will respond to ozone injections.
Pain relief is usually complete within 30 – 60 minutes. It works by increasing oxygen uptake in the local tissue and speeding up local metabolism, which accelerates repair processes. Unlike cortisone shots, which provide anti-inflammatory effects but weaken the injected tissue due to its catabolic effects, ozone stimulates repair processes that promotes healing of the injured tissue.
We have performed ozone injections in our clinic and have observed a tremendous success rate in pain relief for most chronic pain syndromes. The length of relief varies from a month to six months or longer. We have found that some patients need a series of 2 – 4 injections spread out over a period of many months to achieve complete relief. This is because each O3 injection leads to longer pain relief as there are cumulative tissue repair effects.
