Chronic diseases 
Our approaches and therapies Neural therapy
Our approaches and therapies Neural therapy
The neural therapy
The neural therapy is a so-called stimulation therapy, regulation therapy and retuning therapy where local anaesthetic is used, i.e. a narcotic, as we know from dentists. Considering that the substance procaine is often used in neural therapy, some people also use the term „procaine therapy“ for this method. Apart from the direct pharmacological effect on tissue, nerves and muscles also local and higher organic closed-loop control circuits should be influenced. The neural therapy is primarily used for chronic pain disorders, limitations of the locomotor system and rheumatism, but also additionally to a great number of other diseases.
The discovery of the neural therapy can be attributed to a mistake! The brothers Dr. Ferdinand Huneke and Dr. Walter Huneke, both doctors, have tried in vain for years to help their sister who suffered from migraine. In the year 1925 Ferdinand Huneke administered medicine with procaine to his sister – however, by mistake in an intravenous and not in an intramuscular way. This type of administering led to a sudden improvement of the migraine and the brothers began to research procaine intensely which only years before was released. First, they developed the so-called segmental therapy during which procaine, lidocaine or mepivacaine is injected into the skin, at the nerves or joints in order to treat disturbances directly at the cause. In 1940 the Hunekes treated a female patient with painful shoulder joints where their segmental therapy had no effect. But when they injected procaine into the patient’s old leg injury which derived from an osteomyelitis (a bacterial bone inflammation), it came to an improvement of the shoulder troubles within seconds. This result was the basis for the so-called interference field therapy with procaine which was extensively researched in the following years and which is still educated.
Nowadays, there are many explanation models for the phenomenon that problems at a certain part of the body – which can exist for years – can be attributed to a problem of a completely different area. Acupuncture but also the electrophysiological phenomena at scars and old injuries are the force behind it.
The neurologist and internist Dr. Dieter Gross focused on the function of the vegetative nervous system within the framework of his researches on the „therapeutic local anaesthetic“ (TLA) (during the therapeutic local anaesthetic irritated nerve roots in the area of the lumbar vertebrae are infiltrated with a local anaesthetic. Partly, also caudal anaesthesia or epidural anaesthesia are used for therapeutic purposes). Dr. Gross injected arteries and veins in order to „depolarize“ the vegetative nerve supply of the blood vessels.
As a young assistant physician in his practice I had the possibility to acquire his method directly and intensely and also to study his concept how to rebalance patients via the influence of the vegetative nervous system. In the 1970s Dr. Dieter Gross was strongly involved in the formation of the pain centre at the University of Mainz and coined the revolutionary concept of treating patients with the integration of relaxation through self-hypnosis, hypnosis, joint manipulation, massage of the connective tissue and acupuncture – the latter was still equated with Asian mythology and thus a target of ridicule.
The neural therapy is applied in many variants, whereas the administering of medicine from orthodox medicine should always have the best possible effect with the least side effects through a minimal dose and the exact point of injection. One particularity in this context is the intravenous highly-concentrated therapy with procaine which is very helpful during the treatment of chronic pain disorders and cancer diseases. It is carried out under control of the cardiovascular system and can normalize the inner environment and overacidification of the tissue.
