What is Ozone Therapy?
Ozone is a natural gas that forms in the atmosphere and serves as a vital filter and barrier to ultraviolet solar rays. Did you know that Ozone also has medicinal uses? Whereas the oxygen we breathe is 2 combined oxygen molecules (O2), Ozone is 3 combined oxygen molecules (O3).
Medicinal Ozone therapy utilizes an Ozone generator to create a mixture of Oxygen and Ozone. The Ozone Generator creates Ozone by passing pure oxygen through a high-voltage, high-frequency electrical discharge. This electrochemical reaction produces a gas mixture with concentrated Ozone. The concentrated ozone and dosages used are adjusted and individualized to the pathology, patient, and the desired treatment.
The Ozone, when in contact with the organism, produces very important therapeutic chemical changes. It is widely used as an adjuvant medical treatment in a wide range of diseases. It is also used as an anti-aging strategy, to improve athlete’s performance and to gain wellness and quality of life for all that want to achieve better health.
How Does Ozone Therapy Work?
Ozone is a highly oxidative and reactive gas that is considered as a stressor pro-drug to your body (a). At therapeutic concentrations, Medical Ozone can:
- Modulate your Immune System
- Activate your own antioxidant mechanisms
- Oxygenate your tissues
- Activate your metabolism
- Activate circulation
- Reduce inflammation in your body
- Increase energy production
- Induce the secretion of substances like endorphins, serotonin, and other neurotransmitters
The potential benefits of Medical Ozone Therapy and the science behind it
- Germicidal – Ozone has been found to have direct killing effects on viruses, fungi, and bacteria in the body (a,b,c).
- Anti-inflammatory – Ozone inhibits pro-inflammatory pathways in the body (d,e,f,i,j)
- Improved Oxygen metabolism – Ozone helps shift the oxygen-hemoglobin dissociation curve, allowing red blood cells to release oxygen more efficiently to tissues low in Oxygen content. It also aids in red blood cell metabolism, elasticity, and blood flow. There is a significant improvement in blood flow and oxygenation of ischemic tissues due to ozone treatment (g,h).
- Antioxidant – Ozone activates your body’s own antioxidant mechanisms (k)
- Immune Boosting – Ozone works through many different pathways to boost your body’s immune responses (d,e,k).
What can Ozone Therapy Treat?
Ozone therapy and dosing is individualized to the patient. Depending on the condition treated, there are numerous routes and protocols to enable the patient back to their desired activity level. These options will be discussed at your consultation with Dr. Poovendran to establish the most effective treatment for you.
- Illness – Through its many biological functions, Ozone can help a patient recover more quickly from viral infections, bacterial infections, and fungal infections. It does this by augmenting your immune system as well as killing pathogens directly.
- Sports recovery – Through anti-inflammatory effects, oxygen delivery effects, and immune-boosting effects, Ozone therapy can help you during all phases of your training program, making workouts more effective, and recovery quicker.
- Anti-Aging – Through anti-oxidant, oxygen delivery, and metabolic effects, Ozone therapy can help improve the quality of life in patients by making them feel better and more energetic
- Health Maintenance – As part of a wellness routine, ozone therapy can be utilized to help patients feel more energetic, more alert, recover from activity faster, and fight off infections.
- Arthritis Pain – Through anti-inflammatory effects as well as analgesic effects, ozone use has been shown to help patients with joint pain.
How is Ozone Therapy Performed?
At USA Sports Medicine, we use Medical Ozone in several different modalities. Ozone can be injected directly into the tissue to facilitate healing and decrease pain.
We can combine it with Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections to augment its effects.
In other situations, it can be used in conjunction with a prolotherapy solution to decrease inflammation or facilitate healing (Prolozone).
Also, we perform major autohemotherapy, a powerful systemic treatment, where ozone is given intravenously (through an IV) after being mixed with the patient’s blood.
References
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