Neural Therapy
About Neural Therapy
A unique catalyst for restorative health
What is Neural Therapy and how was it discovered?
Neural Therapy was originally developed in Germany by the Huneke brothers. It involves the injection of Procaine, 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 lastingly resolve chronic longstanding illness and chronic pain.
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Although an estimated 35% of all West German physicians use Neural Therapy to some extent and in the rest of the Western World it has become one of the most widely used modalities in the treatment of chronic pain, most physicians in the United States are unfamiliar with Neural Therapy. Here in the United States, "trigger point injections" are commonly used for pain based on the work of Janet Travell, M.D. It is not widely known but Dr. Travell learned about trigger points while studying in Germany and then returned home to write the reference book widely used in the United States on Trigger Point injections. However, Trigger Point injections are just one type of Neural Therapy. Neural Therapy is also often very effective for other medical illnesses such as allergies, chronic bowel problems, kidney disease, prostate and female problems, infertility, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and many other conditions.
How did Neural Therapy start?
The basis for Neural Therapy started with the use of cocaine as a local anesthetic in the late 1800s by the great scientists, Pavlov and Sigmund Freud. In 1906, the German surgeon, Spiess, discovered that wounds and inflammatory processes subsided more quickly and with fewer complications after injection with the newly discovered Novocain (procaine), which did not possess the addicting 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 in the nerves of the autonomic nervous system, peripheral nerves, scars, glands, acupuncture points, trigger points, and other tissues. Even intravenous Lidocaine has treated chronic somatic pain, including cancer pain.
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Modern Neural Therapy owes its discovery to an accident in 1925, observed and interpreted by two physicians, Ferdinand and Walter Huneke. They had for years attempted in vain to help their sister, who often suffered severe migraine attacks. During one particularly violent attack, Ferdinand injected his sister intravenously with what he thought was a remedy for rheumatism. While he was still administering the injection, the blinding migraine headache simply vanished, together with the flashing sensation in front of her eyes, dizziness, nausea, and depression. Her headaches never recurred! After witnessing this miraculous recovery, Ferdinand and Walter realized their sister's intravenous injection actually contained Procaine. After much further experimentation, it became clear that it was Procaine alone that had produced the startling cure, and therefore Procaine could also be used as a treatment remedy, as well as a local anesthetic.
How does Neural Therapy work at a site of disturbance?
A German neurophysiologist, Albert Fleckenstein, demonstrated that the cells in scar tissue have a different membrane potential from normal body cells, functioning much like a 1.5-volt battery implanted into the body. Whenever a cell has lost its normal membrane potential, ion pumps in the cell wall stop working. This means that abnormal minerals and toxic substances accumulate inside the cell. As a result, the cell loses the ability to heal itself and resume normal functioning.
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Procaine acts on the cell wall to allow the ion pumps to resume normal activities and restore the membrane potential. This is how Procaine and other agents used in Neural Therapy correct the bioelectric disturbance at a specific site or nerve ganglion. By re-establishing the normal electrical condition of cells and nerves, the disturbed functions are also restored to normality, and the patient returns to health as far as this is anatomically still possible. The amazing part of Neural Therapy is that the site being treated can be very far away from the tissue in the body that is not functioning properly. For example, a scar on the chin can affect the low back. This is possible because of the vast network of nerves called the Autonomic Nervous System.
What is the Autonomic Nervous System?
The nerves of your autonomic system provide a vast network of electrical circuits, having a total length of twelve times the circumference of the earth, and connecting every one of your 40 trillion cells to form a living whole human organism. This autonomic (or neurovegetative) system controls the vital processes everywhere in your body. It regulates your breathing, circulation, body temperature, digestion, metabolism, hormone formation, and distribution. It causes your heart to beat and your lungs to breathe automatically, even when you are asleep. It does in fact control all of the numerous automatic processes without which you could not live. In other words, virtually every cell in your body is connected not only to each other through the autonomic nervous system but is also in large part controlled by your autonomic nervous system.
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As Fleckenstein showed, scar tissue can create an abnormal electric signal. In turn, this signal is transmitted throughout the rest of your body via the autonomic nervous system. Procaine is delivered by direct injection to scars or through other nerves that travel into deeper scars through tiny tubules in the cellular matrix to these areas of bioelectrical disturbance for treatment. As a result, Procaine 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.
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In 1940, Ferdinand Huneke observed the first "lightning reaction" or the "Huneke phenomenon," discovering that a scar can produce an "interference field." A patient presented to him with a severely painful frozen right shoulder that had been refractory to all kinds of therapies. Huneke injected the shoulder joint directly with Procaine without obtaining any pain relief. However, within several days of the shoulder injection, the patient developed severe itching in a scar in her left lower leg where she had surgery years prior and just before developing the painful shoulder. When she returned, Huneke injected Procaine into the itchy scar in her left leg. 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 of what Neural Therapy is capable of.
What is the Autonomic Nervous System?
The nerves of your autonomic system provide a vast network of electrical circuits, having a total length of twelve times the circumference of the earth, and connecting every one of your 40 trillion cells to form a living whole human organism. This autonomic (or neurovegetative) system controls the vital processes everywhere in your body. It regulates your breathing, circulation, body temperature, digestion, metabolism, hormone formation, and distribution. It causes your heart to beat and your lungs to breathe automatically, even when you are asleep. It does in fact control all of the numerous automatic processes without which you could not live. In other words, virtually every cell in your body is connected not only to each other through the autonomic nervous system but is also in large part controlled by your autonomic nervous system.
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As Fleckenstein showed, scar tissue can create an abnormal electric signal. In turn, this signal is transmitted throughout the rest of your body via the autonomic nervous system. Procaine is delivered by direct injection to scars or through other nerves that travel into deeper scars through tiny tubules in the cellular matrix to these areas of bioelectrical disturbance for treatment. As a result, Procaine 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.
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In 1940, Ferdinand Huneke observed the first "lightning reaction" or the "Huneke phenomenon," discovering that a scar can produce an "interference field." A patient presented to him with a severely painful frozen right shoulder that had been refractory to all kinds of therapies. Huneke injected the shoulder joint directly with Procaine without obtaining any pain relief. However, within several days of the shoulder injection, the patient developed severe itching in a scar in her left lower leg where she had surgery years prior and just before developing the painful shoulder. When she returned, Huneke injected Procaine into the itchy scar in her left leg. 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 of what Neural Therapy is capable of.
Regenerative and antiaging capacity (Geroprotector)
Between 1946 and 1956, Ana Aslan described a significant number of procaine beneficial actions exerted on cellular functions and metabolism, following long-term treatment in low doses, highlighting its “rejuvenating” effects, and developed Gerovital H3 (GH3)—an original procaine-based pharmaceutical formulation. Due to these findings, procaine which was known only for its anesthetic properties became one of the most disputed medical developments of the sixties and seventies in the field of “anti-aging” therapy. Since that time, much information regarding the multifaceted process of aging has come into light. Specifically, several studies have illuminated a wide array of cellular effects such as its influence on cytokine metabolism (IL6, TNF-alpha, CRP) and ability to activate the endocannabinoid system (Travell & Simons 1983; Heine 2006). The anti-inflammatory effects of local anesthetics such as Procaine were initially discovered (Hollmann & Durieux 2000). The anti-inflammatory effect is independent from the only the sodium channel actions common to local anesthetics and lasts much longer than just the anesthesia effect suggesting a more broad impact than solely an anesthetic effect. This mechanism also explains their relaxing effect on muscular trigger points (Heine 2006). In addition, LA reduces neurogenically induced inflammation by influencing neurotransmitters (Tracey 2009; Oke & Tracey 2009). Local anesthetics also seem to have remarkable effects on the immune system (Cassuto et al. 2006; Rosas-Ballina & Tracey 2009).
​Root of Dysfunction​