Humanitas has opened an ambulatory for ozone therapy, as part of the Orthopedic Rehabilitation section. We spoke about this with Doctor Cristiano Sconza, physiatrist at Humanitas.
“Ozone therapy, or more correctly oxygen-ozone therapy, is an anti-inflammatory and pain relieving treatment. It is useful to patients suffering from lumbar radical pain, back pain or head-and-arm pain. The majority of these ailments depends on specific diseases of the vertebral column, such as a herniated disc or disc protrusion.
Patients report feeling pain in their back, irradiating to the gluteus muscles and legs, or a neck pain irradiating to arms and sometimes even fingers”, the specialist says.
How does oxygen-ozone therapy work?
“The treatment involves intramuscular injections in the area of the back where the disease started, near the source of the pain. In order to pinpoint the correct region, the patient should undergo an MRI in advance. Subsequently, the specialist examines the images captured, in order to locate hernias or protrusions.
At this point, the specialist doses a mixture of oxygen and ozone with a dedicate device and injects it.
The benefits of this treatment on pain relieving are noticeable, in the majority of cases, after 15-30 days. The necessary therapeutic cycle requires at least ten injections once or twice a week. The other benefit, lasting longer than the first one, is the volume reduction of the disc hernia, thanks to the dehydrating effect of ozone on the intervertebral disc (mainly consisting in water).
This therapeutic cycle is part of a personalized rehabilitative projec, aimed to restore the patient’s well-being and to prevent relapses. At the end of this course, the specialist prescribes physiotherapy sessions to the patient to get a postural re-education”, Doctor Sconza explains.
An effective conservative treatment
“Oxygen-ozone therapy is a safe, fast treatment, with almost no side effects. Thus, it is suitable for everyone, suffering from hernia or disc protrusion, and not should the issue is of surgical nature. In fact, oxygen-ozone therapy is a conservative treatment and one of the most effective available options”, Doctor Sconza points out.
Each session lasts for a few minutes
“Injections get done in the clinic and are not painful. Patients only feel a slight discomfort at the time of the injection and then a swelling feeling in their back, only lasting for a few minutes.
In order to help patients familiarize with the treatment and feel safer, during their first session, I invite them to relax for ten minutes after the injection, in my presence, so that they may inform me about their feelings or issues.
I also tell them to be accompanied by someone, so that they are comfortably driven home after the treatment, if they feel a slight pain in their back.
A last recommendation, on the very evening of the treatment you should avoid physical exertions or lifting weights”, Doctor Cristiano Sconza says.
