Man ends up in hospital after injecting semen into arm to cure back pain

An unidentified man baffled doctors when he walked into a Dublin hospital complaining of severe pain in his lower back. Photo / Getty Images

The bizarre way a man treated his back pain has been documented by doctors — after he devised his own very unusual "cure".

An unidentified 33-year-old baffled doctors when he walked into a Dublin hospital complaining of severe pain in his lower back. He was also sporting a red rash and swelling on his forearm.

After performing an X-ray on his arm, it was discovered the man had been injecting his own arm with semen for 18 months in a bid to self-treat his continuing back pain.

However his home medicine ideas causing him to develop cellulitis, a bacterial infection of the skin — and definitely didn't help with his bad back.

The weird way of treating is back pain has been documented in the Irish Medical Journal, as it's believed to be a world first.

A man was discovered to have a very bizarre way of treating his back pain, injecting his own semen into his forearm. Photo / Supplied

"He had devised this 'cure' independent of any medical advice,' Dr Lisa Dunne wrote alongside images of his infected arm.

Dr Dunne revealed the Irish man had injected one monthly "dose" of semen for a year-and-a-half using a hypodermic needle he bought online.

She added that he had "failed multiple attempts at injecting the bodily fluid," in what she described as an "innovative method to treat back pain".

It was a mixture of his own botched procedure and the fact the semen had leaked into his soft tissue that caused the nasty infection.

But he'd only come into the emergency room when his back pain worsened after attempting to lift a heavy steel object.

Despite seeking professional help at Adelaide and Meath Hospital, he left before doctors had a chance to remove the offending semen.

They initially X-rayed his arm to see if it was broken, before discovering his home cure had given him a nasty skin infection. Photo / Supplied

The unique case is thought to be the first in the world, with Dr Dunne writing that no studies of injecting semen into human bodies have ever been carried out.

"There were no cases of intravenous semen injection into humans found across the literature," she said. "A search of more eclectic internet sites and forums found no other documentation of semen injection for back pain treatment or other uses."

Her report on the unusual treatment was shared to demonstrate others on the dangers involved when someone untrained tries to perform a medical procedure.

Naturally, the unusual case has caught the attention of social media users who have been left stunned.

"People are strange," one person wrote on Twitter.

While another said: "What the actual..."