Treatment of the nervous system
Neural therapy literally translates to "treatment of the nervous system." Practitioners of neural therapy believe that illness is primarily caused by the nervous system, especially the autonomic nervous system.
The autonomic nervous system is the most important link between body and mind.
It controls all life processes that are not subject to our consciousness and will. It is divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
With neural therapy, one tries directly or indirectly to regulate the life processes associated with these nerve functions.
Neural therapists inject the analgesic agent procaine into specific points on the body, i.e., either directly into the pain points, which correspond to reflex zones, or into disturbing fields that may be located outside the 'segment' (e.g., old scars, inflamed teeth). The purpose is to remove blockages and initiate the body's own healing mechanisms.
Procaine has a healing effect on the autonomic reflex pathways that are vital for the body's homeostasis, i.e., the maintenance of a relatively constant internal environment. A well-functioning autonomic nervous system is the basis for health and well-being.
The discovery of disturbing fields and the Huneke treatment method
Procaine was discovered in 1905, more than a hundred years ago. The first thing doctors noticed was that the pain-relieving effect of procaine lasted longer than the local anesthetic effect, and then they found that wounds and inflammations healed much faster after they were injected with procaine.
General practitioners Walter and Ferdinand Huneke treated their own sister for a long-term migraine. The two doctors themselves were sons and grandsons of doctors and of course tried everything, but only in 1925 did they intravenously inject a drug containing procaine into their sister during a migraine attack by mistake. As the injection progressed, the pain eased, and the migraine attack disappeared completely. After a few treatments, the migraine disappeared completely, and the sister flourished again.
After many discussions, they concluded that it was the procaine that led to the healing. The brothers published the observation and afterwards successfully treated many patients with the same disease. They did not stop there, but instead began to treat various diseases and pain conditions with procaine solutions. The success meant that their practice in Düsseldorf gradually became very busy.
In 1940, Ferdinand Huneke observed something completely fundamental again. It went like this: A woman came to the famous doctor because of a long-term right-sided shoulder inflammation (periarthritis humeroscapularis) which meant that she could no longer use her arm, and she had to use her healthy hand to hold the painful arm. The medical history was long, and some teeth had already been extracted and the tonsils and appendix removed because doctors at that time had the perception that there must be bacterial toxins spreading in the body. It was therefore necessary to remove a possible source of spread. Finally, they were also going to remove the left leg because she had had periostitis as a child. But before the amputation, she was now going to try a treatment with Ferdinand Huneke. He treated the diseased shoulder locally with procaine injections repeatedly, but the improvement failed to materialize, and she went home deeply disappointed. Fortunately, she came back to Huneke after a few weeks. The shoulder pain had not improved, but the old periosteal scar had become inflamed. It was very red and itchy. From previous experience, Huneke knew that procaine soothes inflammatory conditions, and he injected the agent directly into the red scar. Then something completely unexpected happened, which Ferdinand Huneke described as follows: “The effect surpassed all my expectations. From one second to the next, the woman was free of her shoulder pain, she moved and rotated the shoulder joint in all directions as if nothing had happened before. This experience made such a great impression that I had no doubt that I was on the trail of a hitherto unknown lawfulness.” Ferdinand Huneke had discovered a disturbing field (osteomyelitis scar) and the phenomenon of the lightning-fast pain freedom which today – in honor of the discoverer – is called the 'Huneke' or 'second phenomenon'.
Thanks to the Huneke brothers, these observations did not fall into oblivion, but based on their observations, a systematic treatment method was built up which today is called neural therapy according to Huneke.
More and more colleagues became fascinated by the method and included neural therapy in their 'therapeutic toolbox'. Many patients who were previously considered 'hopeless' could now be helped. Today, there are medical associations for neural therapy with education programs for future neural therapists in a number of countries.