Ozone Herniated Disc Treatment

Your spinal column is made of vertebrae (bones) stacked on top of one another. Between every one of these bones is an intervertebral disc which acts as a strong and resilient cushion to protect the spine.

A herniated disc develops when the outer layer of the disc (annulus) is torn and the inner portion (nucleus) of the disc ruptures out. This condition can cause the herniated disc to press on or irritate a nerve, which leads to pain, numbness, or weakness.

Ozone disc injections work to relieve pressure on your spinal nerve by shrinking the herniated portion of the disc. The injections do not reduce the disc height or alter the normal anatomy of the disc. This is a significant difference to surgery which decreases the height of the disc and always alters the disc anatomy. Ozone, unlike surgery, also improves the long term health of the disc.

The Ozone injection procedure not only treats disc herniations effectively as explained in the above, it also contributes to the long-term health of discs by:

• Stimulating the cells in the outer covering of the disc (annulus) to increase in number (proliferate) which has the potential to repair the tear that is present with all herniations.
• Signaling your own body’s stem cells to mobilize to the area
• Improving the ability of the cells to cope with oxidative stress
• Decreasing inflammation
• Improving blood flow to the area
• Increasing lymphatic drainage

The ozone disc injection treatment is superior to spine surgery in a number of ways. It does not create major trauma to the body since it’s a set of injections. This procedure does not alter the human anatomy in anyway but surgery does and once the anatomy is changed, it cannot be reversed. This change in your disc anatomy can lead to future problems such as accelerated disc degeneration. Ozone disc injections treat disc herniations as successful as surgery without surgery related risks or side effects. It is a same day outpatient procedure which requires no significant downtime like spine surgery. An ozone disc injection procedure does not carry the risk of “failed back surgery syndrome” which develops in more than 25% of people who undergo spine surgery. In addition, since it does not alter the disc anatomy, the ozone disc injection procedure can be safely repeated if necessary and the good effect is accumulative. Such need to repeat is not common. However, it is uncommon for patients to have a repeat of the ozone disc injection procedure due to its high success rate.

It’s our opinion based on our clinical experience, the ozone injection procedure should replace surgery as a better option to treat herniated discs.

The majority of patients who come to Alternative Disc Therapy for ozone disc injections either don’t want spine surgery or found no relief from surgery. The first step is to schedule a consultation appointment to be evaluated and Dr. Bleiweiss will discuss his assessment with you. Sometimes he determines ozone might not achieve the goal and he would recommend another regenerative medical treatment. If a patient is from out of state or out of country and has difficulty traveling to NJ for a consultation, we offer virtual consultation visit. However in this case, we ask the patient to send in the recent diagnostic images and history so Dr. Bleiweiss could review prior to the virtual consultation. Dr. Bleiweiss does his best to provide his recommendations in a virtual consultation based on the evaluation on images, diagnosis and information shared by the patient. If he recommends an ozone disc procedure and the patient decides to schedule it, the physical evaluation will be done on the day prior or the day of the procedure after the patient flies into New Jersey.

Patients at Alternative Disc Therapy typically need one treatment with an ozone disc injection. Our experience shows that Patients usually experience dramatic pain reduction or complete pain relief after one ozone injection treatment for herniated discs. The relief from this procedure is sustained over a long period of time. If the initial treatment is only partially successful, Dr. Bleiweiss can safely repeat it and the positive effect is accumulative. However, the need to repeat such a procedure is not common.

It is a same day outpatient procedure that is performed with fluoroscopic guidance at a surgery center. Local anesthesia and mild sedation are provided.

You can expect little to no downtime because the treatment has no known significant side effects or long-term complications. After the procedure, you can return home to rest and resume your routine activities the following day. Patients typically begin light exercise a week after the procedure and progress towards their normal exercise routine two weeks after. You will have a follow up evaluation appointment with Dr. Bleiweiss two weeks after the procedure. For patients who come from out of state or Canada, telemedicine visits are available.