Spine pain

Avoiding Surgery In CrossFit Athletes with Herniated Disc

In this article: Crossfit herniated disc injury Avoiding surgery PRP treatment and results A herniated disc is usually one of those things that just happen, either due to trauma or an “oops” moment. Prior to 2000, it was almost a sure thing you would have surgery to fix it, but that’s changed quite a bit…read more

The New VAST Trial Results on VIA Disc

It’s my job as CMO of Regenexx to stay on top of the latest and greatest technologies out there that can be used to treat Degenerative Disc Disease in the spine. Today I’ll tackle one called VIA Disc. My goal is to dissect a recent and past paper to see if this is something we…read more

The Curious Case of the Bad Artificial Disc

I often write about what I experience day in and day out in the clinic. The case this morning is of a patient who had an Artificial Disc placed and developed new pain. After a few in-clinic x-rays, a problem with the disc was discovered. So let’s use this opportunity to review the concept of…read more

Does Low Back Surgery Cause Damage to the Fascia? What Is the Fascia?

Your muscles are surrounded by something called fascia. This structure commonly gets injured in low back surgery. What is fascia and why should you care if yours is injured? Let’s dig in. What Is Fascia? Fascia covers our muscles and contains them. Look at the diagram above. The muscle is surrounded by a thick fascia.…read more

What Are the Intertransverse Ligaments?

As I have said many times, ligaments are the red-headed stepchild of the spine. Meaning they are often ignored by 99% of the physicians treating spine problems. However, they are important and ubiquitous throughout the spine. Today we’ll review the Intertransverse ligaments, what they do, and why they could be causing you problems. Let’s dig…read more

Can Senolytics Improve Back Pain and Disc Health?

Can a drug cocktail help degenerated discs? The idea is that by using “senolytic” drugs, you can reduce the number of older and bad cells in a degenerated disc, and thus help the condition. Let’s review a recent animal study and also discuss why this data is being a bit overhyped at this point. A…read more

Really Interesting Video and Upper Cervical Chiropractic

I have a special interest and expertise in treating patients with Craniocervical Instability or CCI. Recently an upper cervical chiropractor sent me an interesting video of an even more interesting patient. So let’s dig in. The Upper Neck Bones As I wrote in my book on Craniocervical Instability, the C1-C2 joint is one of the…read more

L5-S1 Non-surgical Disc Treatment

L5-S1 non-surgical disc treatment has radically changed in these past few decades. What used to be a sure thing surgery, morphed into injected steroids and now has morphed again into Orthobiologics. Let’s explore one patient’s result to learn. What Is  a Herniated or Bulging Disc?Your discs are the shock absorbers that live between your back…read more