Ozone is a highly reactive gas which can be beneficial or harmful to human health.
But, a single jab of the gas could ease the agony of back pain for millions of people, a new study has claimed.
Scientists at Frankfurt University in Germany found that around two-thirds of patients who had ozone injected said it relieved the pain caused by disc problems.
Ozone could be beneficial or harmful to health, depending where it’s in the atmosphere. The “ozone layer”, which extends from six to thirty miles above the earth’s surface, protects us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.
But at ground-level, it can be a dangerous air pollutant that damages the airways and inflames the lining of the lungs, the Daily Mail reported.
In recent years, however, researchers have been studying its potential as a remedy for herniated discs.
This is where discs in the spine which normally act as shock absorbers for the body become damaged and inflamed, pressing against nearby nerves and causing pain and numbness.
Treatments usually involve physiotherapy and painkillers but many people end up needing surgery. But the ozone therapy could help many avoid surgery, the scientists said.
In the latest study, the German team treated 327 patients with bulging discs who had not got better on other treatments and were heading for major surgery.
After a single injection of the gas, 37 per cent reported they were still pain-free six months after the jab. Another third reported less frequent episodes of back pain, usually once a day rather than several times a day previously.
Of the remainder, 22 per cent reported no improvement and seven per cent said they felt worse, the scientists said at a recent meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.
According to the scientists, they first mixed ozone with steroid medicine, which helps to dampen down inflammation, and then injected directly into the damaged disc under a local anaesthetic.
Scans showed the discs shrunk by between 2 per cent and 15 per cent afterwards, they said.
Some studies suggest that ozone helps by reducing levels of prostaglandins — the compounds in the body that trigger inflammation and pain. This helps shrink the disc, easing pressure on nerves, said Dr Thomas Lehnert who led the study.
“If you reduce the volume, it won’t be pushing against the nerve and causing pain,” he added.