Back issues are a surprisingly common problem in the United States. According to research, one to five percent of people suffer from a herniated disc in their lifetime. Herniated discs are a painful condition that can make it difficult to work and do the things you love. While spine surgery is necessary at times, we want to consider this invasive measure as a last resort, especially when we take into account the recovery time. If you haven’t heard of alternative therapies already, we want to introduce you to ozone therapy. So, what is ozone therapy for a slipped disc and how can it possibly help you?
What is a Slipped Disc?
Your spine is made up of bones that carefully stack on top of each other. In between each of your bones is a disc. This disc cushions your bones to protect them. Your disc contains both an inner and outer layer.
A slipped disc is also known as a herniated disc. The condition occurs when the outer layer of your disc is damaged, allowing the inner layer to rupture.
As a result of the rupture, the disc can irritate or lean on your spinal nerves, leading to pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness.
What is Ozone Therapy for Slipped Discs?
If you aren’t familiar with ozone therapy, let’s go through a brief overview.
Ozone therapy is the process of administering safe doses of ozone into your bloodstream in order to treat pain and illnesses.
The specific form of ozone therapy we use is called Prolozone® therapy because it targets pain and inflammation in your body.
One of the main reasons your body struggles to heal itself is due to lack of circulation, which results from a lack of oxygen. Without the right levels of oxygen in your blood, your pain and inflammation remain unhealed and stagnant.
Prolozone® injections go directly into the injured tissues.
In the case of a herniated disc, your practitioner would inject the ozone solution straight into the disc using an ultrasound device. In turn, that ruptured disc would decrease in volume. When it’s no longer bulging out as much, the pressure on your affected nerves decreases.
Thus, your pain and inflammation levels are lower.
Ozone Therapy vs. Steroid Injections vs. Surgery: Which One is Right for You?
Surgery fundamentally changes the structure of your disc, which creates the potential for more complications after the fact compared to injections.
While surgery is a one-time event, aftercare tends to last for much longer. You will need less downtime for injections, by far.
Injections are a much shorter procedure involving less pain. They’re usually preliminary measures for most slipped disc patients.
So, if injections are your first choice, should you decide on steroid or ozone injections?
Research suggests that steroid injections provide more immediate, short-lived relief. However, local ozone injections may provide a longer-lasting outcome.
Ozone therapy helps preserve the integrity of the disc while improving the long-term health of that disc. In contrast to steroid injections, ozone helps reduce the volume of the disc itself.
Avoid Surgery Through Prolozone® Therapy
If you are interested in an ozone therapy consultation, reach us at 305-456-1014 or book a session on our site here.