Try Botox For Pain
It is common knowledge today that Botox is used in cosmetic procedures, to lessen the appearance of wrinkles and paralyze the facial muscles that cause wrinkles. But there are also many legitimate medical uses for Botox, including pain management.
Use Of Botox For Pain Management
A recent study showed that Botox, in conjunction with physical therapy treatments, reduced patients' chronic neck pain. More than 50 percent of patients who participated in the study using Botox for pain control reported that they would gladly undergo Botox injections for the condition in the future.
Long Lasting Results
Patients using Botox for pain management reported relief for a minimum of three months and up to six months after treatment - about the same amount of time recommended for repeating cosmetic Botox treatments.
How Botox Works
Botox, a purified form of the chemical botulinum toxin Type A, relaxes muscles and prevents uncontrolled muscular contractions, like facial twitches. This property of Botox also works to prevent muscle spasms that cause neck and back pain.
Botox For Pain - Better Than Oral Medication
The patients in the study used Botox in combination with physical therapy treatments. A more common treatment for neck and back pain is to take physical therapy treatments in conjunction with oral medications. However, the advantages of Botox over the oral medications are significant. Oral pain medicine can cause fatigue, drowsiness, and incapacitating dizziness. Oral pain medicine acts systemically on the entire body's systems.
Botox, on the other hand, is ideal for pain treatment. Botox is applied by injection directly to the site where the pain occurs. The entire body is not treated, as it is with oral medications. With Botox, only the site of the pain is treated.
Treating Other Types Of Pain
Botox was proven effective not only for neck and back pain, but also for headaches, especially migraine headaches, and head pain treatment. In a study from the American Headache Society, 80 percent of patients with migraine headaches reported less head pain after treatment with Botox. Patients reported that their head pain was less frequent, less intense, or both.
Side Effects
Botox is not without side effects. Some patients in the headache study reported drooping eyelids or brows, neck muscle weakness, flu-like symptoms, or no relief in head pain. These complaints occurred in approximately 4 percent of the study subjects.
Chronic pain sufferers who are not getting relief with other forms of pain treatment should talk to their physicians about trying Botox for pain treatment.
