Definition
Neural therapy is a comprehensive healing system that focuses on the relief of chronic pain and long-term illness. These symptoms, practitioners say, can be stopped by injecting local anesthetics into scars, acupuncture points peripheral nerves, and glands. Other, less-invasive methods may also be used to correct "short circuits" and restore electrical conductivity in the body.
Origins
The earliest known use of neural therapy was in 1925, when two German doctors treated migraine headaches by injecting a local anesthetic (Novocain) into the veins. The injections immediately aborted not only the headaches but also a number of other symptoms (dizziness, nausea, a visual "flashing" sensation) also associated with migraine. In 1940, Dr. Ferdinand Huneke, a German physician, found that injecting procaine (Novocain) into an osteomyelitis scar on a patient's leg seemed to instantly cure chronic pain in her shoulder. Now called the lightning reaction or Huneke phenomenon, it showed that injuries in one part of the body may cause symptoms elsewhere in the body. Although it is still not fully understood, neural therapy has been widely practiced since the 1940s in both Europe and South America. More recently, some neural therapists have employed less-invasive procedures involving electricity, lasers, and other light sources.
Benefits
Neural therapy has been used in the treatment of hundreds of conditions. These include depression, hormonal imbalances, dizziness, allergies, asthma, skin diseases, hemorrhoids, ulcers, chronic bowel problems, prostrate and bladder problems, headache (including migraine), kidney disease, arthritis, back pain, as well as whiplash and other soft-tissue injuries.
Description
The most common procedures used by practitioners of neural therapy involve injections of procaine (Novocain),
