Neural Therapy
Neural Therapy was originally developed in Germany and is often used in the treatment of pain. It involves the injection of Procaine (also known as Novocain), a common local anesthetic, into various but very specific areas. Neural Therapy is based on the theory that trauma can produce long-standing disturbances in the electrochemical function of tissues.
Among the types of tissues affected by trauma include scars, nerves or a cluster of nerves, called ganglions. A correctly administered Neural Therapy injection can often instantly and completely resolve longstanding chronic illness and pain.
An estimated thirty-five percent of all German physicians use Neural Therapy to some extent. It has become one of the most widely used modalities in the western world for the treatment of chronic pain. Many people in the United States are unfamiliar with Neural Therapy.
In America, “trigger point injections” are commonly used for pain. This is based on the work of Janet Travell, M.D. Dr. Travell learned about trigger points while studying in Germany.
She wrote a reference book on Trigger Point injections when she returned home which was widely used in the United States. Trigger Point injections are only one type of Neural Therapy. Neural Therapy is often effective for other medical illnesses. Examples are: allergies, chronic bowel problems, kidney disease, prostate and female problems, infertility, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), in addition to others.
How did Neural Therapy start?
The basis for Neural Therapy originally started with the use of cocaine as a local anesthetic in the late 1800’s by scientists Pavlov and Sigmund Freud. In 1906, a German surgeon, Dr. Spiess, discovered wounds and inflammatory processes subsided quicker and with fewer complications after an injection with the newly discovered Novocain (procaine). Novocain did not possess the addictive qualities of cocaine.
The famous French surgeon, Leriche, performed the first nerve block into the stellate ganglion in 1925 for the treatment of chronic intractable arm pain. He described the injection of Novocain as the surgeon’s “bloodless knife.” ‘Ganglion blocks’ are now commonly used for the treatment of neck, shoulder, arm, leg, and low back pain.
In addition, Procaine can be used directly for the autonomic nervous system, peripheral nerves, scars, glands, acupuncture points, trigger points, and other tissues. Intravenous Lidocaine has even been used to treat chronic somatic and cancer pain.
Modern Neural Therapy was accidently discovery to two physicians, Ferdinand and Walter Huneke in 1925. For years they had attempted in vain to help their sister, who suffered severe migraine attacks. During one particular attack, Ferdinand injected his sister intravenously with what he thought was a remedy for rheumatism. While he administered the injection, the blinding migraine headache vanished, along with the flashing sensation in front of her eyes, dizziness, nausea and depression. Her headaches never returned!
After witnessing the miraculous recovery, Ferdinand and Walter realized the intravenous injection contained Procaine. After further experimentation, it became clear to them that Procaine alone was responsible for the startling cure. Procaine could be used as a treatment remedy and a local anesthetic.
How does Neural Therapy work at a site of disturbance?
German neurophysiologist, Albert Fleckenstein, demonstrated that the cells in scar tissue have a different membrane potential from normal body cells, and function as if a 1.5 volt battery was implanted in the body.
Ion pumps in a cell’s wall stop working when the cell has lost its normal membrane potential. This means that abnormal minerals and toxic substances will accumulate inside the cell. As a result, the cell will lose the ability to heal itself and cannot function normally.
Procaine works to restore function to the cell wall’s ion pumps and normalize the membrane potential. This is how Procaine and other agents are used in Neural Therapy to correct the bioelectric disturbance at a specific site or nerve ganglion.
By re-establishing the proper electrical condition of cells and nerves, the disturbed functions are restored to normality, and the patient returns to health. The amazing part of Neural Therapy is that the site being treated can be very far away from or the tissue that is not functioning properly. For example, a scar on the chin can affect the lower back. This is possible because of the vast network connection of nerves in the autonomic nervous system.
What is the Autonomic Nervous System?
The nerves of the autonomic nervous system are a vast network of electrical circuits. The system has a total length of twelve times larger than the circumference of the earth. It connects every one of your forty trillion cells to form an entire living human organism.
This autonomic system controls all the vital processes for your body. It automatically regulates your breathing, circulation, body temperature, digestion, metabolism, hormone formation and distribution.
One could not live without it. In other words, virtually every cell in your body is connected to each other through, and in large part controlled by, the autonomic nervous system.
Fleckenstein showed scar tissue can create an abnormal electric signal. That signal would then be transmitted throughout the rest of your body via the autonomic nervous system. A direct injection of Procaine into the scar would travel into deeper scars through the cellular matrix’s tiny tubules to treat the areas of bioelectrical disturbance. A result from using Procaine is it is capable of eliminating autonomic regulatory dysfunctions.
Since the autonomic nervous system is the master controller of the body, Neural Therapy can have a profound impact on your condition and your ability to heal.
In 1940, Ferdinand Huneke observed the first “lightning reaction,” or the “Huneke phenomenon.” He discovered that a scar can produce an “interference field.” A patient had presented to him a painful frozen right shoulder that had been noncompliant to other therapies. Huneke injected the shoulder joint with Procaine without obtaining any instant pain relief.
However, several days later the patient developed severe itching on a scar in her lower left leg where she had surgery years prior and before she developed the painful shoulder. When she returned to Huneke, he injected Procaine into the itchy scar. Almost immediately she obtained a full and painless range of motion in her right shoulder joint. The shoulder problem never recurred.
The left leg scar injection had apparently “cured” her shoulder problem. This was the first observation to show the potential of Neural Therapy.
What causes interference fields?
Infections
Emotional trauma.
Physical Trauma from any type of surgery, accidents, deep cuts, biopsies, childbirth, dental procedures, vaccinations, burns, tattoos, etc.
One may wonder how a scar or infection becomes activated to become an interference field. General stress from illness, malnutrition, emotional stress, food allergies, pregnancy, etc., seem to convert an inactive interference field into a disturbance.
Why does Neural Therapy work?
Many practitioners agree that if a person received all the required nutrients, avoided everything that makes you worse (allergens, alcohol, etc.), detoxified and eliminated anything that prevented her from getting well (mercury, yeast, abusive relationships), the body would heal itself.
Those were the three ingredients to attain good health. However, for some individuals, even when everything has been done in these three areas, something interferes with getting well. It turns out the cause may be attributed to interference fields from scars and trauma. The scars are disturbing the autonomic nervous system’s instructions to heal the body.
For better understanding, one has to know that the autonomic nervous system is made up of two divisions. One is the sympathetic nervous system, which is activated by stress.
The sympathetic system speeds up your heart rate, makes one burn sugar more rapidly, tenses your muscles, and generally increases the “fight or flight” ability. The other side of the autonomic nervous system is the parasympathetic nervous system. Its’ job relates to healing, digestion, slowing down the heart rate, increases mucus.
The key features of the sympathetic nervous system are it links all of the body’s cells together, regulates the contraction and expansion of blood vessels, regulates the activity of the connective tissue necessary for regenerating body systems, and it regulates the voltage (membrane potential) across all cell walls in the body.
While either the parasympathetic or sympathetic nervous system could be overly dominant, most people are stuck in an overly reactive sympathetic state. In other words, the healing mechanism is impaired, or “interfered with.”
Neural Therapy has a direct effect on the Autonomic Nervous System and allows it to reset and come back into balance and regulation.