Neural therapy according to Huneke is a method of complementary medicine for the treatment of diseases. The aim is to influence the autonomic nervous system by applying a local anesthetic. Interference field diagnostics is an essential part of neural therapy according to Huneke, which is one of the draining natural healing methods. The procedure is based on the assumption that the application of a local anesthetic (e.g. procaine, lidocaine or impletol) can have a remote effect and thus relieve pain by influencing the autonomic nervous system. Huneke assumes that the so-called interference fields are chronic inflammations that influence the whole organism and can cause complaints or diseases in other areas of the body or prevent their healing.
Indications (areas of application)
- Chronic and acute pain and inflammatory conditions (orthopedic and rheumatic origin).
- Chronic diseases (e.g. bronchial asthma).
- Circulatory disorders
- Dysmenorrhea (mentruation complaints)
- Neuralgia (e.g., trigeminal neuralgia).
- Differential diagnostic clarification of a cause of pain.
- Hormonal disorders and vegetative complaints
- Rehabilitation after trauma, infection or surgery
- Migraine
- Apoplexy (stroke)
- Bilious colic
- Ischialgia (pain in the area of the ischiadicus nerve, e.g., due to a herniated disc).
- Herpes zoster (shingles)
- Tumor diseases (cancer)
Basically, the field of application is very large and hardly ascertainable, because according to Huneke, a variety of diseases can be concluded interference fields.
The procedure
The diagnosis of an interference field is a multi-faceted undertaking. The goal is to normalize pathological (disease-related) tissue characteristics of the interference field by selectively deleting stimuli using a local anesthetic. This procedure is used for acute, chronic, inflammatory and degenerative diseases. Above all, however, the treatment of pain is in the foreground. The interference field is defined as follows: “The interference field is a section of tissue with sympathetic innervation whose afferents are in a pathological chronic state of irritation.” The following localizations of interference fields are possible:
- Irritations in the area of the teeth (e.g. periodontitis).
- Sinuses
- Tonsils
- Chronic appendicitis (irritation of the appendix)
- Scars
- Nerve exit points
- Mental disorders
- Environmental stresses
The basis of the interference field diagnostics is an unsuccessful previous segment diagnostics. This is a systematic examination of the patient with targeted application of a local anesthetic to the alleged site of the disease to relieve pain. The site of application is the spinal segment (part of the spine whose nerves supply the segment in question) associated with the affected tissue. In neural therapy according to Huneke, segmental diagnosis precedes interference field diagnosis and forms the basis. At the beginning, a detailed anamnesis is taken:
- Precise recording of the symptoms
- Children’s diseases
- Previous therapies
- Other diseases or system overview
- Injuries of any kind and operations
- General symptoms
- Exact anamnesis of the tooth-jaw-area
This will be followed by a detailed inspection of the patient, paying special attention to the following things:
- Scars, trophic disorders of the skin
- Varicose veins (superficial venous congestion).
- Spine and musculoskeletal system
- Tension state of the muscles; atrophy (muscle atrophy).
- Oral cavity, gums and teeth
Palpation concludes the physical examination and is used to manually detect irregularities:
- Resistances
- Pressure pain (punctate) especially at nerve exit points.
- Local edema (swelling)
- Tissue gaps
- Hyperesthesia and hypesthesia (increased and decreased sensitivity, respectively).
- Tumors
- Vascular pulsations, skin temperature and skin tension.
- Surface moisture
- Appraisal of the joints
- Percussion of the body cavities (“tapping out” the body cavities: the quality of the tapping sound can provide information about infiltrations (e.g., water retention)).
If relief of pain by segmental diagnostics is not possible, it is followed by securing the diagnosis of the unknown interference field by the so-called second phenomenon, that is, by the instantaneous interruption of the pain impulse by local anesthesia. The injection site or the order in which the potential interference fields are visited is usually based on experience. The effect of the second phenomenon is characterized by a prolonged arrest of the interference field-induced disease. The therapy of the interference field consists in the continuation of the same injection that led to the diagnosis. It is supposed to have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects.
Benefits
Interference field diagnosis is one of the draining naturopathic treatments and can be an additional alternative option to conventional medicine.
