Neural therapy—A review of the therapeutic use of local anesthetics

Abstract

Neural therapy, or therapeutic local anesthesia (TLA), is the diagnostic and therapeutic use of local anesthetics. This review summarizes the scientific and clinical evidence, indications, methods of application, and possible future research.

In the literature, there is a gap between the multitude of data supporting a number of different molecular effects and the few clinical trials that are available. The available clinical studies and case reports, however, show effectiveness in acute and chronic pain, functional disorders, vegetative diseases such as the complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), and chronic inflammation.

Five administration methods are described: local, segmental, regional, and systemic application, as well as injections into the so called “stoerfeld” (disturbance field, interference field).

Local anesthetics have been used for therapy for over 120 years, which suggests that this therapy may be an important, effective, and efficient therapy that has few side-effects. Possible clinical studies to reveal the potential effectiveness and benefit-risk ratio of this holistic approach are described.