Lower back pain is one of the most common causes of disability, and yet most of our treatments don't actually address the underlying degeneration of the spinal disc. We manage the pain, reduce inflammation, or eventually operate on the spine.
This is something I became interested in years ago: could we actually repair the disc instead?
In our study, we treated patients suffering from chronic discogenic lower back pain by injecting their own stem cells, directly into the affected discs.
At one year, pain had improved by an around 60%, with 80% reduction in opioid use.
More importantly, we saw structural changes on MRI. Disc height increased by an average of 11.45%, and some of the treated discs actually improved by one or two grades on the Pfirrmann scale of disc degeneration.
The MRI findings were particularly interesting because they suggested that we may be able to do more than simply reduce back pain.
We may actually be able to repair the degenerating discs and give patients their lives back.
