Neural Therapy (NT) is a treatment system for chronic pain and illness using injection of a local anesthetic (usually procaine, also known as Novocaine) into autonomic ganglia, peripheral nerves, scars, glands, and trigger points. It is believed to act through normalizing the function of the nervous system.
NT as a comprehensive healing system is unknown to most doctors in the United States. In German-speaking countries it is a widely used modality for the treatment of chronic pain. Four theories are used to explain the dramatic effects neural therapy injection can have on illness or pain. A series of injections is usually advised.
Scars receive particular attention based on the theory that if one of them cuts across an acupuncture meridian, it can be expected to impact the corresponding acupuncture site, as well as adjacent joints. For example, a nasty scar from gallbladder surgery might be the source of problems in the shoulder. Neural therapists are especially suspicious of scars that haven’t faded with time, or seem to be pulling the surrounding skin, or feel hard. In some cases, an electrical imbalance may stem from nothing more than metal eyeglass frames, jewelry, or dental fillings. Removing the offending object or replacing the fillings with plastic may be all that is necessary to produce improvement.
Neural Therapy can help with the following
Hyperthyroidism
Neural Therapy to the thyroid gland may help normalize its function and stabilize or shrink nodules.
Sinusitis
There is a neural therapy treatment offered by some doctors which consists of many small injections of procaine at specific points on the head and face during an office visit. Proponents of this treatment claim a high percentage of cases respond quickly, but sometimes more than one treatment is required.
Trigeminal Neuralgia / Facial Pain
By using the techniques of neural therapy, combined with detoxification and nutritional supplementation, some doctors claim to significantly reduce facial pain and disability safely without any further surgery and without other medications.
Fibroids
Injections into a nerve plexus near the uterus is said to stabilize and sometimes shrink fibroids.
Key
| May do some good |
| Likely to help |
Glossary
Chronic
Usually Chronic illness: Illness extending over a long period of time.
Anesthetic
Agent causing loss of sensation by neurological dysfunction or a pharmacological depression of nerve function.
Ganglion
A group of nerve cell bodies clustered together in a uniform mass outside of but often close to the brain or spinal chord. Nerves run to or from the ganglia in passage to or from the brain to specific sites on the body.
Nervous System
A system in the body that is comprised of the brain, spinal cord, nerves, ganglia and parts of the receptor organs that receive and interpret stimuli and transmit impulses to effector organs.
Gallbladder
A small, digestive organ positioned under the liver, which concentrates and stores bile. Problems with the gallbladder often lead to "gallbladder attacks", which usually occur after a fatty meal and at night. The following are the most common symptoms: steady, severe pain in the middle-upper abdomen or below the ribs on the right; pain in the back between the shoulder blades; pain under the right shoulder; nausea; vomiting; fever; chills; jaundice; abdominal bloating; intolerance of fatty foods; belching or gas; indigestion.