Ozone therapy is an innovative treatment that is successfully applied to numerous ailments, especially herniated discs and osteoarthritis of the knee, shoulder and hip. The Ozone Therapy Unit of Hospital Quirón Barcelona is considered a reference center both nationally and internationally, having performed more than two thousand ozone discolisisis as an alternative to surgery in patients with low back pain (back pain) with or without sciatica (leg pain) due to disc herniation or degenerative disc disease.
The Ozone Therapy Unit of Hospital Quirón Barcelona was inaugurated in 1987, being the first Ozone Therapy Unit created in Spain. In order to obtain good results with this technique it is essential, as in any form of treatment, to carry out a correct selection of patients.
Which patients are good candidates for intradiscal treatment with ozone?
1 Patients who present pain due to cervical or lumbar disc herniation, in spite of having undergone treatment with analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs for two months.
2 Patients diagnosed with cervical or lumbar disc herniation who have no loss of strength and can stand on tiptoes and heels.
3 In patients with lumbar or cervical pain due to degenerative disc disease who do not have segmental instability, severe facet degeneration or severe canal stenosis.
4 When their work does not require intense physical effort, so that after treatment they will be able to resume it immediately.
The purpose of this minimally invasive technique is to respect the functionality of the spine and achieve a rapid recovery of the patient.
The injection of a certain volume and concentration of ozone into the disc is called discolysis, and is performed by the neurosurgeon in the operating room under sedation and radiological control. The patient remains in the hospital for only four to five hours. This form of therapy is combined with injections in the paravertebral musculature, which will be done on an outpatient basis and will act as an analgesic and anti-inflammatory, reducing the contracture which, reflexively, is activated to protect the area of the herniated disc.
Elderly people with back pain can also benefit from ozone therapy by means of paravertebral injections of ozone, which, by acting as a powerful analgesic and anti-inflammatory, will reduce pain and, therefore, the need to take medication, thus improving their quality of life.