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:
Rapid absorption — When applied to the skin or ingested, DMSO quickly spreads throughout the body.
Cellular protection — It shields cells from lethal stressors like burns, frostbite, blood loss, radiation, and shockwaves, and can rescue already damaged cells on the verge of dying.
Safety profile — DMSO is extremely safe,1 and in almost all cases, its only side effects are temporary skin irritation or creating a garlic-like odor. In contrast, the standard of care (NSAIDs) kill tens of thousands of Americans each year and are the leading cause of drug induced hospital admissions.
Conduction blocking — DMSO selectively blocks pain signals from small nerve fibers (e.g., C fibers)2,3,4 which are often involved in chronic pain (e.g., DMSO is one of the most effective treatments for complex regional pain syndrome). This blocking effect is reversible and doesn’t cause tolerance.
Choline esterase inhibition — By inhibiting acetylcholinesterase,5,6,7,8 DMSO boosts acetylcholine levels, enhancing parasympathetic function and reducing pain.
Anti-inflammatory action9 — DMSO is incredibly effective at rapidly reducing inflammation (e.g., it lowers inflammatory cytokines, scavenges free radicals, and drains edema that would otherwise compress tissues).
Muscle relaxation — DMSO rapidly relaxes skeletal muscles, easing pain from tension and spasms.10,11,12
DMSO and Tissue Healing
DMSO greatly improves wound healing (e.g., from burns or surgeries). For example:
• A study of 1371 chronic skin wounds that had often remained unhealed for years (e.g., infected ulcers or severe burns) found 95.04% had a rapid and complete recovery (e.g., no burn scars).13 Likewise, a systematic review found DMSO effectively treated ulcers.14
• Numerous studies show that DMSO accelerates limb regeneration in animals15 and surgical wound healing in humans.16 It also enhances the viability of skin grafts and flaps, offering benefits for plastic and reconstructive surgery.17,18,19,20,21,22
• Animal studies have shown DMSO increases the tensile strength of surgical scars23,24 (which significantly improves surgical outcomes), decreases experimentally induced intestinal adhesions25 (a common complication of abdominal surgeries) by 80%, prevents hypertrophic (excessive) scar formation.26
• Human studies show DMSO can flatten and loosen keloid scars27 and gradually eliminate subcutaneous fibrosis induced by radiation.28
• Finally, DMSO is also sometimes used to repair keloid scars. For example, in one study of ten people with keloids, applying 50% to 80% DMSO a couple of times a day induced scar flattening with the loosening of the collagen surrounding the fibrous bundles.29 Similarly, another study found DMSO eliminated (through a gradual softening and reduction of it).30
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).
In the 1960s a miraculous treatment for chronic pain, traumatic injury, strokes and spinal cord paralysis was discovered that spread across America like wildfire—until the FDA buried it.Here, 60 Minutes exposed the FDA using the same playbook they used throughout COVID-19. A🧵 pic.twitter.com/Bh0dcjNk5w
— A Midwestern Doctor (@MidwesternDoc) October 14, 2024
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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
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