DMSO Is a Miraculous Therapy for Pain and Tissue Injury

Modern medicine often sidelines “miracle” drugs that work too well. Despite decades of evidence showing that the naturally occurring chemical Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) is a remarkably safe and versatile treatment for a range of challenging conditions — such as strokes, head trauma, spinal cord injuries, dementia, and even Down Syndrome — it has been largely overlooked.

This sidelining is particularly remarkable as DMSO is also one of the most effective treatments for acute and chronic pain, musculoskeletal injuries, and chronic degenerative conditions (e.g., arthritis).

DMSO, Nature’s Healer

DMSO is a powerful, natural compound with several unique properties that make it an incredibly versatile healing agent:

DMSO and Tissue Healing

DMSO greatly improves wound healing (e.g., from burns or surgeries). For example:

DMSO and Musculoskeletal Injuries

Many of the early adopters of DMSO went from skeptics to believers because of the rapid and dramatic improvements they saw from it healing acute injuries (e.g., as they had patients with debilitating bursitis in the shoulder recovering within minutes of receiving DMSO).

As it was far safer and more effective than any other way to treat musculoskeletal injuries, joint disorders or chronic pain, DMSO was rapidly adopted by doctors and pharmaceutical companies across the country (e.g., millions were invested to bring DMSO products to market and hundreds of thousands of Americans had life-changing benefits from it).

Unfortunately, as DMSO’s use was skyrocketing, on November 10, 1965, the FDA decided to globally ban all research on it by falsely claiming it was incredibly dangerous. Because of this, there was an explosion and then sudden disappearance of DMSO research, which sadly continued even with Congress repeatedly trying to get the FDA to overturn their indefensible prohibition of DMSO.

Note: A detailed review of DMSO’s extensive safety data and toxicology studies can be viewed here.

As a result, very little knowledge now exists of DMSO’s use in human musculoskeletal injuries other than it existing in a few FDA approved products (where it typically is combined with another agent). Remarkably however, it is fully permitted in veterinary medicine (which led to a lot of Americans using DMSO that was “meant for horses”) where it is frequently utilized for musculoskeletal injuries. Those forgotten studies include:

A 1964 study,31 where 22 out of 25 patients with subacromial bursitis experienced a rapid improvement within 30 minutes of DMSO, while in chronic cases 32 of 40 patients improved and in some patients, a reduction in shoulder calcium deposits was also noted (which in a later 1967 study,32 were shown on X-ray to disappear following DMSO).

This 1965 study:33

This large 1967 study:34 Note: In that study,35 many of the results were immediate and dramatic. For example, this was one bursitis patient.

This 1967 study:36

This 1967 study:37

A 1967 study that found:38 Note: The miscellaneous conditions treated in this study by DMSO included 19 cases of sciatica, 6 cases of coccydynia, and 2 cases of lupus.39

Another 1967 study40 found:

A 1967 study41 gave PT and 70% DMSO to 7 people with frozen shoulders, 4 of whom had excellent pain relief and improved motion.

A 1967 blinded study42 for acute musculoskeletal disorders (using 10% DMSO gel as a “placebo”) that found: In that study, its author (a former president of the Aerospace Medical Association43) remarked: “I am convinced that the topical application of DMSO in the treatment of acute musculoskeletal conditions is a striking and significant therapeutic contribution. During the period of time I conducted clinical investigation with this medication, I practically discarded physical therapy as treatment for musculoskeletal problems because the rehabilitation of my patients was so prompt with DMSO. There was little or no necessity to prescribe narcotics and tranquilizers since pain was promptly mitigated following topical application of DMSO.” He then conducted a follow-up double-blind study44 on patients with sprains, strains, bursitis, or tendinitis which found DMSO significantly improved those conditions and reduced the time patients lost from work.

A 1994 blinded study45 gave 157 patients with acute tendinopathies (e.g., tennis elbow) 10% DMSO gel or a placebo ointment three times a day for 14 days within 3 days of symptoms starting. Pain of movement under loading and the mobility of the joints were significantly improved after, respectively, 3 and 7 days of treatment with DMSO. After 14 days on DMSO, a further improvement was observed, and 44% of the patients (and 9% of placebo) were pain-free. Note: DMSO has also been reported to be effective for carpal tunnel syndrome46 (and other hand issues like trigger fingers). For those struggling with carpal tunnel syndrome, I discussed our approaches to the disorder here.

Finally, a 1967 analysis47 of 76 studies using topically applied (90%) DMSO for musculoskeletal conditions found 72% improved. Specifically: Note: The review also included 102 Traumas (contusion, fracture, etc.), 29 Tenosynovitis, 27 Neuritis, 20 Muscle spasms, 20 unspecified types of arthritis, and 220 miscellaneous issues (e.g., fibrositis, epicondylitis, synovitis, calcific tendinitis). To quote the authors: “It is difficult to declare that a drug has efficacy on the basis of uncontrolled studies in a heterogeneous group of diseases. However, from these data and from discussions with many of our investigators, we feel that DMSO is a unique and effective agent for the treatment of many acute musculoskeletal disorders. Beneficial results are unpredictable, but they occur frequently and are sometimes dramatic, particularly in acute conditions, which require low doses and short treatment periods. In chronic conditions, improvement occurs at a lower rate and is less dramatic.” Finally, at a symposium on DMSO,48 data on 9,521 patients were presented, which showed DMSO was effective therapy in a wide variety of acute traumatic conditions, in acute and chronic subacromial bursitis, osteoarthritis, gouty arthritis, and in some patients with rheumatoid arthritis (along with other conditions such as early Dupuytren’s contracture). Note: A later 1981 study49 also found DMSO was superior to indomethacin in the treatment of gout.

Sports Injuries

“What I like about DMSO is that you don’t have to interrupt your training every time you get a minor pull or sprain. It doesn’t pump you up like certain pills. It’s simply a very useful thing to use for simple athletic injuries.

Some people have told me that you shouldn’t use it because it might mask the pain of a serious injury, but a good athlete knows his body well. Even when I’m using DMSO, I know when I can push and when I can’t.” — Al Oerter, a discus thrower and the first American to win 4 consecutive Olympic gold medals.⁵⁰

One of the greatest challenges professional athletes face are sports injuries which prevent them from returning to the field, particularly since many sports injuries are a product of micro-injuries building up until a critical point is passed (e.g., from adhesions and scars in the soft tissue).

In turn, since DMSO both heals micro-injuries and rapidly treats traumatic injury (returning them to full functionality), DMSO was rapidly adopted by professional athletes once they realized what it could do for their careers (and being off the field was often devastating to their careers).

In turn, due to the voice their position afforded them, a few professional athletes (e.g., Atlanta Falcons Quarterback June Jones⁵¹ — who now is a coach⁵²) became some of the most impactful advocates for DMSO (e.g., Jones stated in Congressional testimony⁵³ that “veterinary” DMSO was widely used but athletes were afraid of publicly discussing it). Likewise, in 2013, a Dallas Cowboys Lineman stated:⁵⁴

“You get it [from] the veterinarian and it goes right to the bloodstream. It’s an ointment that’s like anti-inflammatory. You put it on your skin and you put it on a muscle, and I guarantee you, in about 30 minutes you’d feel it. It wasn’t on the list [of banned substances] … we used DMSO and people knew it. Everyone knew about it.”

Furthermore, in his riveting testimony, Jones provided cases that left the Congressmen in disbelief, such as a teammate with a bone chip and a torn ligament (which would require months of recovery and hence end their season) taking DMSO immediately after the injury and 7 or 8 days later returning to the field (with the bone chip remaining but no longer causing issues).

Likewise, at that Congressional hearing, the former team physician for the Oakland Raiders⁵⁵ testified that he’d used 70% topical DMSO on a careful and controlled basis for his players 20 to 30 times a year for 5 years. From this, he observed that DMSO was the most beneficial when given in the first 3 to 4 days of an acute injury where a muscle or joint had severe swelling, particularly of the extremities, especially the ankle, elbow, hands, or wrist.

Overall, he stated that DMSO provided good to excellent results 70% to 80% of the time (e.g., through reduced pain and swelling) and the players felt they were able to return to play 50% to 75% faster than they had from similar injuries in the past. Conversely, they did not find DMSO was helpful for chronic injuries, but this may have been due to it not being used long enough for the effects to kick in.

Note: He also emphasized that DMSO would transform the field of occupational medicine. I fully agree with his assessment, especially given just how frequently Worker’s Comp fails to help its patients.

Similarly, podiatrist Lowell Scott Weil (who was the physician for both the Chicago Bears and the United States Olympic gymnastics team) used DMSO on a regular basis (particularly injured gymnasts).

After 12 years of using it, he shared,⁵⁶ he’d seen it rapidly heal injuries (e.g., he had a gymnast who suffered an ankle sprain expected to end her season, but instead quickly recovered and made the U.S. Olympic team, and a football player who tore his hamstring but was able to rapidly return to the field).

Overall, he had a 60% treatment success rate and saw the best response to DMSO for tendinitis, myositis, and post-injury situations such as muscle pulls, ankle sprains, strains, and tears of the soft tissue (and conversely the only side effects he had were skin irritation). Additionally, he also used it for arthritic patients (especially rheumatoid arthritis) with many having dramatic relief. Many other compelling anecdotes exist.

For example, this book⁵⁷ discusses the experience of an Oregon State track coach and early adopter of DMSO who had many amazing stories of DMSO treating hamstring and achilles tendon injuries such as an athlete being able to return to the field at full capacity 3 days after a normally disqualifying hamstring injury and the story of a blind long distance runner who was able to run due to DMSO fixing musculoskeletal injuries and (according to the author) then played a pivotal role in opening the sport to women.

Note: A major problem in certain sports like football is repeated concussions (which are now recognized to put them at risk for cognitive impairment and dementia later in life). As discussed in the first part of this series, in addition to treating strokes and spinal cord injuries, DMSO is also immensely helpful for mitigating the effects of concussions.

Research also directly demonstrates DMSO’s utility in sports medicine:

Note: While not quite the same as getting tackled, I’ve also come across cases⁶³ of individuals taking DMSO immediately after getting hit by a car while crossing the street (which caused injuries but no fractures) and immediately fully recovering.

Conclusion

Many of the benefits of DMSO are so extraordinary that they understandably invite a healthy degree of skepticism, and it is for that reason I have spent months carefully compiling the evidence behind it. Likewise, after presenting the initial case for DMSO to the readership of the Forgotten Side of Medicine, I put out a call for what those who’d tried DMSO had experienced.

In those comments, dozens of readers reported remarkable experiences of DMSO, many of which mirror those described throughout this article, but also other even more remarkable ones (e.g., for a child with Down Syndrome, a man with Parkinson’s and a woman who had severed her spinal cord).

The suppression of DMSO has always deeply bothered me, and in turn, I feel incredibly grateful to be alive at a time when the world is ready to learn of the suppressed medical truths many before me (e.g., the DMSO researchers) devoted their lives to bring to humanity.

Furthermore, I believe this is just the start, as beyond open platforms like Twitter (X) rapidly eroding the public’s trust in corrupt medical dogmas, I know through trusted confidants directly connected to RFK Jr. that the next four years offers an unprecedented opportunity to begin rectifying many of the previously insurmountable problems that have plagued our health care system and make America Healthy Again.

Author’s note: This is an abridged version of a longer article that goes into greater detail on the points mentioned here, others not as extensively covered (e.g., the wealth of evidence DMSO is a life-changing pain treatment), and guidance for topical DMSO use (e.g., dosing, therapeutic precautions and where to obtain it).

That article and its additional references can be read here (along with a companion article discussing DMSO’s remarkable utility for a variety of musculoskeletal injuries and chronic pain conditions and an article about how DMSO treats a variety of “incurable” autoimmune and genetic disorders).

A Note from Dr. Mercola About the Author

A Midwestern Doctor (AMD) is a board-certified physician from the Midwest and a longtime reader of Mercola.com. I appreciate AMD’s exceptional insight on a wide range of topics and am grateful to share it. I also respect AMD’s desire to remain anonymous since AMD is still on the front lines treating patients. To find more of AMD’s work, be sure to check out The Forgotten Side of Medicine on Substack.