Can Ozone Therapy Help Manage Chronic Pain? Exploring New Research

Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide and can be difficult to manage with conventional treatment alone. Ozone therapy is one of the approaches that has been investigated as an addition to standard musculoskeletal care. A 2024 review in the European Journal of Medical Research gathered that literature together, and its conclusions are more measured than the enthusiasm ozone therapy sometimes attracts.

Background: why ozone is studied for musculoskeletal pain

Musculoskeletal disorders cover a wide range of conditions affecting bones, joints, muscles and connective tissue. Interest in ozone here rests on two proposed properties: an anti-inflammatory action and an effect on pain signalling. Ozone has been trialled for a number of these conditions, although both its potential toxicity and the correct way to administer it remain actively debated in the literature.

Study design: a narrative review, not a meta-analysis

The paper was published on 31 July 2024 by Jeyaraman and colleagues (European Journal of Medical Research, volume 29, article 398). The authors carried out a literature search, then examined the design, methods, findings and conclusions of the studies they gathered in order to assess ozone's physiological effects, clinical application, controversies and safety.

Two things follow from that. First, this is a narrative review rather than a systematic review or meta-analysis: there is no stated search protocol, no defined inclusion criteria and no pooled statistical analysis, so it is not possible to judge how completely the field has been covered or whether studies with negative results were captured. Second, it summarises other researchers' work rather than reporting new patient outcomes, so it cannot demonstrate efficacy in its own right.

Findings: promise across several conditions

The review reports therapeutic potential in the management of musculoskeletal disorders including fractures, osteoarthritis and chronic pain syndromes, attributed mainly to ozone's anti-inflammatory and analgesic qualities. The individual studies it draws on span areas such as bone healing, chronic osteomyelitis, tendinopathies, rheumatic conditions and wound management.

These are findings collected from the underlying literature, not outcomes the review measured itself. Those studies vary in design, size and quality, and the review does not rank them or report pooled effect sizes. "Shows promise across several conditions" is therefore a fairer summary than "is effective" for any one of them.

What the authors concluded

The authors concluded that ozone therapy holds potential in managing several musculoskeletal disorders, given its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. They were equally clear that further high-quality research with long follow-up is needed to refine the indications, the efficacy and the safety profile, and that international recommendations would need to be developed before ozone therapy could see wider clinical acceptance and use.

Limitations of this study

Beyond the narrative-review design, the authors raised safety points that belong alongside the positive findings rather than beneath them. They noted concerns about ozone's potential toxicity and emphasised the importance of adhering to strict administration protocols. They also recorded variability in how individual patients responded, and hazards associated with oxidising agents.

It is worth being clear about setting, too. The protocols discussed in this body of literature are clinical procedures carried out by trained practitioners, which is a different context from home use. If you are managing a chronic pain condition, this review is a conversation to have with your doctor or specialist rather than a basis for self-treatment.

Read the full review (open access), or download the copy we hold here.

If you would like to know more about ozone therapy generally, you can book a free consultation or just pick up the phone and give us a call.