Infraspinatus
Respiratory Reflex
A little
known fact is that asthma patients and patients with other lung
problems like chronic bronchitis, chronic cough, or emphysema
may have sore spots in a specific location in their backs. Those
spots, on the muscles of the lower shoulder blade area called
the infraspinatus muscles, apparently correspond to a center of
autonomic nervous system control over respiratory physiology. As
in other locations, it is possible that these nerve endings
become irritated, and end up firing in a repetitive and
maladaptive way, thus contributing to or even causing the
patient’s respiratory distress. This connection is called the
infraspinatus respiratory reflex, or IRR for short. Louisiana
physician Harry Philpert discovered this connection by observing
that nearly 100% of his asthma patients showed muscle tenderness
in the infraspinatus area.
The
treatment consists of palpating both infraspinatus muscles,
identifying any tender spots, and injecting each of those spots
with the local anesthetic agents procaine or lidocaine. There
may be immediate benefit observed in some cases, though it may
be temporary. The treatment works because this temporary shut
down of repetitive neuron firing by the anesthetic clears the
neuron’s memory banks, and stabilizes the negative influence of
the autonomic response. Usually a series of 6 to 8 treatment
sessions are required. The results reported by Philbert in a
series of 1000 patients have been impressive….in the range of an
80% chance of improvement and a 50% chance of cure. I encourage
all patients with respiratory complaints to be checked for the
IRR.
UPDATED
Several months ago I
wrote the above article about infraspinatus respiratory reflex (IRR), and the
treatment of lung problems with procaine injections to the scapular
area. I wanted to present a case report that came up recently.
The patient is a 46 year old
married man who presented with complaints of a choking and
tightening sensation in his neck, which caused him to gasp for air at
times. Outside pulmonary investigation had been fruitless, and his other
doctor felt that the symptoms were due to acid reflux disease.
He was on
Zantac (an acid blocker) and had an inhaler for occasional use, but it
didn't help as expected. This patient had several other things going on
metabolically, but after examination on his first visit here, I
explained the possible benefit of IRR injections and he decided to try
it. I injected the tender points over both shoulder blades. When the
patient returned 3 weeks later to discuss his other test results, he
told me he had experienced 100% relief of his chocking sensation since
the day of the injections.
What this case tells
us is that whether it is asthma, emphysema, sinus trouble, or even an
unknown cause of breathing difficulty, patients with breathing problems
should consider getting checked and treated with IRR injections here at
Caring Medical.
CASE HISTORY:
Here's a second case report on the IRR
neural therapy injections for breathing problems. I saw a woman in
her mid-forties. On her first visit, a month prior, she had
presented a variety of symptoms, including increasingly unmanageable
bronchial asthma. Her 3 to 4 time daily inhalers had become more and
more ineffective, forcing her to use a nebulizer treatment with
medications as many as 6 times daily. Even then she was still
feeling short of breath. I treated her with IRR injections to both
shoulder blades on that first visit, and she told me that she had
been able to discontinue all use of her nebulizers, and that she was
now doing well by just using her inhalers about three times daily.
This was huge progress for her after only one treatment, since the
inhalers had become ineffective for her previously. She put her
overall improvement in her breathing at 50%, and I agreed with that
assessment. Today I treated her for the second time with IRR
injections. My goal is to help her to the point that she does not
need to use any medication regularly, but only use an inhaler
occasionally as needed for flareups.
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