Degenerative Disc Disease
Degenerative disc disease is a condition characterized by the breakdown of spinal discs over time, resulting in pain and reduced mobility. It’s often associated with aging and wear and tear on the spine.
Subscribe to the BlogCan a Stem Cell Treatment Regenerate My Degenerated Disc?
Way back in 2006, I’m pretty darn sure we were the first clinic on earth to inject mesenchymal stem cells into a human disc. Our hope was that what happened in rabbits, dogs, and rats would happen in people. That patients with severely degenerated discs would grow new ones. Regrettably, that didn’t happen. Now new…read more
We Should Never Be Proud of MRIs That Show Holes Burned in Patient’s Bodies…
A new study was recently published on a new treatment for back pain due to degenerative discs. Ordinarily, I would be excited, as what’s not to like about another treatment option for back-pain patients. However, the problem with this one is that it works by blasting a hole in the vertebrae? Yep, you heard that…read more Another Lower Back Stem Cell Injection Patient Result
Way back when, in 2005/6, when I injected the first patient in the world with stem cells into a damaged low back disc, it was “way out there.” In fact, we had to be under the supervision of an Institutional Review Board just to get it done. How times have changed in 13 short years.…read more Lumbar Fusion Is Usually a Business Model, Not Effective Treatment
Surgical fusion hardware is one of the most successful medical business plans ever devised. You take a screw and rods made for a few dollars in China or India and sell them for thousands of dollars. As a result, we’ve gone from a world where implanting hardware in the spines of patients was rare, to…read more Should You Get Your Disc Injected with Stem Cells?
It seems to be the latest craze; all the cool providers, most after taking a weekend course, are doing it. So should you get your disc injected with stem cells? The question certainly seems simple enough; however, the answer is a bit more complex. This isn’t a new fad for us. We were the first…read more
Disc Replacement Side Effects: New Research Is Concerning
The whole idea behind disc replacement is that it should have fewer side effects than fusing the spine. The artificial disc allows motion, which is, in theory, similar to a normal biologic disc. However, what if an artificial disc ended up distorting normal motion so badly that it still caused the disc above and below…read more Cervical Disc Replacement Complications: Metal Ions
We ended the 20th century with the idea that we could cut out parts of a person, like a joint or a disc, and insert metal and achieve great things. Then reality got in the way, in that studies began to show that these metal or plastic or ceramic parts wear down and those particles…read more What Is an Annular Tear?
Many patients don’t know that it’s possible to tear the disc in their neck and back. When this happens it’s called an annular tear. So let’s explore what happens. The annulus is the tough, fibrous outer covering of our spinal discs. The spinal discs live between each of the bones that make up our spine,…read more 
