# Neural therapy

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**Neural therapy** is a form of [alternative medicine](/source/Alternative_medicine) in which local anesthetic is injected into certain locations of the body in an attempt to treat chronic pain and illness.[1]

The International Medical Association of Neural Therapy has about 400 members some of whom have been practising in this field for over 30 years. Neural Therapy is both in theory and practice a [pseudoscience](/source/Pseudoscience) and studies have found it not to be of any benefit.[2][3]

## Description and history

Neural therapy has been described as a form of [holistic medicine](/source/Holistic_medicine) for treating illness and chronic pain.[1] According to [Quackwatch](/source/Quackwatch), neural therapy is "a bizarre approach claimed to treat pain and disease by injecting local anesthetics into nerves, scars, glands, trigger points, and other tissues".[4]

The idea underlying the therapy is that "interference fields" (*Störfelder*) at certain sites of the body are responsible for a type of electric energy that causes illness.[3] The fields can be disrupted by injection, allowing the body to heal.[5]

The practice originated in 1925, when Ferdinand Huneke, a German surgeon, used a newly launched pain drug that contained [procaine](/source/Procaine) (a local [anaesthetic](/source/Anaesthetic)) on his sister who had severe intractable [migraines](/source/Migraine). Instead of using it [intramuscularly](/source/Intramuscular) as recommended, he injected it intravenously and the migraine attack stopped immediately. He and his brother Walter subsequently used [Novocaine](/source/Novocaine) in a similar way to treat a variety of ailments.[1]

In 1940 Ferdinand Huneke injected the painful shoulder of a woman who also had an [osteomyelitis](/source/Osteomyelitis) in her leg, which at that time (before [antibiotics](/source/Antibiotics)) threatened her with [amputation](/source/Amputation). The shoulder pain improved somewhat but the leg wound became itchy. On injecting the leg wound, the shoulder pain vanished immediately – a reaction he called the "secondary phenomenon" (*Sekundenphänomen*).[1] In segment therapy, a local anaesthetic in the form of skin quads is injected in the area of the corresponding dermatome (called *Head zones*) of the internal organs or into vegetative ganglia. The reflective effect is to be conveyed via the vegetative nervous system to the affected segment.[3]

## Reception, effectiveness and safety

Neural therapy is practiced mostly in South America and Europe.[2] A 2007 survey of family physicians in Germany found neural therapy to be among the most used of alternative medical techniques.[6]

Quackwatch includes neural therapy on its list of "questionable treatments".[7]

According to the [American Cancer Society](/source/American_Cancer_Society), "available scientific evidence does not support claims that neural therapy is effective in treating cancer or any other disease".[2] Overall the risks of the treatment, such as of needle damage to organs, outweigh any benefit it may have.[3]

## See also

- [List of ineffective cancer treatments](/source/List_of_ineffective_cancer_treatments)
- [Prolotherapy](/source/Prolotherapy)

## References

1. Diamond, WJ (2000). [*The Clinical Practice of Complementary, Alternative, and Western Medicine*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KECumbYp-dkC&pg=PA229). CRC Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-4200-4021-0.

1. ["Neural therapy"](http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/neural-therapy). [American Cancer Society](/source/American_Cancer_Society). 1 November 2008. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120206172811/http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/neural-therapy) 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.

1. Ernst, E (ed.) (2007). ["Neural Therapy"](https://books.google.com/books?id=M9oES85plfgC&pg=PA149). *Complementary Therapies for Pain Management: An Evidence-based Approach*. Elsevier. p. 149. ISBN 978-0-7234-3400-9.

1. Barrett, S (28 December 2012). ["Stay Away from "Holistic" and "Biological" Dentists"](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/holisticdent.html). [Quackwatch](/source/Quackwatch). Retrieved 4 January 2014.

1. Mantle, F & Tiran, D (2009). ["Neural Therapy"](https://books.google.com/books?id=DYvQAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT167). *A-Z of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A guide for health professionals*. Churchill Livingstone. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-7020-4999-6.

1. Joos, Stefanie; Musselmann, Berthold; Szecsenyi, Joachim (2011). "Integration of Complementary and Alternative Medicine into Family Practices in Germany: Results of a National Survey". *Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine*. **2011**: 1–8. [doi:10.1093/ecam/nep019](https://doi.org/10.1093/ecam/nep019). [PMC 3140199](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3140199). [PMID 19293252](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19293252)

1. ["Index of Questionable Treatments"](http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/treatmentindex.html). [Quackwatch](/source/Quackwatch). 20 November 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2014.

## Further reading

- Schmittinger, CA; Schär, R; Fung, C; z'Graggen, WJ; Nauer, C; Dünser, MW; Jung, S (2011). ["Brainstem hemorrhage after neural therapy for decreased libido in a 31-year-old woman"](https://boris.unibe.ch/1099/1/415_2011_Article_5921.pdf). *Journal of Neurology*. **258** (7): 1354–5. [doi:10.1007/s00415-011-5921-4](https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-011-5921-4). [PMID 21286741](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21286741). [S2CID 10206678](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:10206678)
- Spiegel W, Ortner W. Neural Therapy: Diagnosis and Treatment of Regulatory Disorders. In: Bisconcin M, Maso G, Mathers N (eds). European Textbook of Family Medicine, Milano:Passoni, 2006, pp 240–244.
- Atlas of Neural Therapy with Local Anesthetics, 2nd Edition. Mathias P. Dosch. Thiemen Verlagsgruppe, 2002 [ejo.oxfordjournals.org](https://web.archive.org/web/20100827070130/http://ejo.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/26/1/117-a.pdf#search=%22%22neural%20therapy%22%20site%3A.org%22) (book review)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Neural therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_therapy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_therapy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.