Therapeutic potential of ozone therapy as an adjuvant in the rehabilitation of chronic low back pain
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i4.27372Keywords:
Chronic low back pain; Treatment; Ozone; Rehabilitation; Pain.Abstract
Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders, prevalent worldwide and one of the main causes of disability and damage to quality of life, representing a significant economic burden. Ozone therapy (OT) has been suggested in clinical practice as an adjunct therapy to rehabilitation and promising due to the positive results for the treatment of several chronic diseases, including DLC. Thus, the purpose of this study is to present and understand, through a narrative review, the current evidence available on the therapeutic potential of OT in the treatment of CLBP. The bibliographic databases of PubMed/MEDLINE, Virtual Health Library (VHL), Web of Science and SciELO were used. Based on the peer-reviewed studies, the analyzed studies demonstrate that OT is a promising approach as it exerts positive effects in reducing the level of pain, disability and quality of life of patients with CLD for a short and medium term period, since the gas is capable of modulating inflammatory processes, has antioxidant action and influences endogenous opioid pathways. Furthermore, the authors support its use as adjunctive therapy in the treatment of CLD and that the therapy could be particularly relevant for patients who do not respond to drug therapy, experience adverse drug therapy effects, and/or who are not candidates for surgery. Thus, OT can be suggested as a complementary method to rehabilitation in the treatment of CLBP, since it is a technique that has relatively low costs, in addition to being minimally invasive and well tolerated. However, controlled and randomized clinical trials are needed in order to elucidate ideal application protocols, since the literature is still scarce within this scenario.
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