A few words about "new" treatment principle that we can say does not exist till now. The point in following. If we cause pain in a tensed muscle, the muscle will relax and its tone will be different. Apitoxin, for example, when got in skin or muscles firstly, causes strong painful irritation and secondly, cuts off transmission of nerves and has paralyzing effect. Traditional medicine practitioners noticed anesthetic effect when bees stung a person who has radiculitis. Those practitioners could not explain the phenomenon as did not have our possibilities but used it skillfully. Chinese doctors with the same purpose used needles and caused pain by warming up needles with wormwood cigars, cauterizing without needles, finger pressure. In Russia apart from apitoxin we used nettle which was less effective since skins receptors were affected, not muscles. Leeches should not be in this list because their bite is painless and although the effect is good, it is not reflex and similar to medicines.

There were no possibility to use more effective methods untill XX century. With hollow needles invention and the possibility to give injections with medicines, the possibility to replace bees emerged. Doctors used paravertebral block to treat nerve roots pain untill the middle of XX century. They usually injected novocaine in muscles along the spine in order to block pain impulses transmission. Or in other cases they injected a mixture consisted of novocaine, B vitamins, analgene and dexamethasone which can relief pain(if injected intramuscularly) and than novocane reduced pain. Inventors had no intention to mimic a bee and explained the effect in another way, but all in all the were doing the same thing. Short intense pain lowered the nerve centers activity and impulses transmission block helped to reorganize their process of work. Apart from that, there was a method when doctors injected various in muscles medicines which had only pain effect. As the practice showed, these procedures were the most effective though we can call them blocks. It is better to name them pharmacopuncture, i.e. the injection of medicines in active spots. It is difficult to say why this the most effective method was excluded from treatment standards but for more than 40 years it is not used. Due to the fact that it is used rarely, this method is not in an educational program. We hear only occasionally that somebody uses it because it is extremely effective despite its simplicity in use.

To summarize, pain treatment for such diagnosis like osteochondrosis, intercostal neuralgia, spinal disk herniation, radiculitis, sciatica, arthritis pain, arms numbness goes down to injections in muscles of certain spine areas.

This treatment approach has following features:
1. Necessary amount of injections should be given in all found spots, 0,5-1 ml for one spot, in depth 0,5-7cm (depends on muscles and subcutaneous tissue thickness)), at the same. Since the effect is reflex not medicamentory, for intramuscular injections any painful medicine can be used.
2. Regardless the fact that in complicated case several dozens of injections required, if giving 1 injection in 1 second, procedure will take 1-2 minutes.
3. Intense pain from injections(when using 50% analgene solution and 0,9% sodium chloride solution) lasts for 15-20 seconds and completely calms down after 3-5 minutes.
4. First changes in a form of pain relief and flexibility can be noticed right after the first procedure though the maximum effect will reached after 10-15 days.
5. If after this moment the effect has not been reached, the procedure can be repeated. Thus, there is no a course of the medical treatment, there are only procedures. If a patient does not have complains, new procedures are not required up to new pain. Sometimes remission lasts for months and years.
6. Procedure is absolutely safe. It is impossible to damage nerves because they are under ribs and spinal cord protected by bones.
7. This approach is rather self-sufficient, although it does not exclude common medicines but only as an additional treatment.
8. The approach is much more effective but not a panacea and in complicated case with organic changes in the organism its advantages are lower.

neurologist A.A.Ponomarenko