Degenerative disc disease in your spine isn’t really a disease, but the term used to describe common age—or injury–related—changes to the discs in your spine. These include the loss of fluid/hydration in the discs, which can result in reduced flexibility, and tears or cracks in the outer layer of the disc that can cause it to bulge, rupture, or break apart. Depending on the location of the disc, those with degenerative disc disease may suffer from mild to debilitating neck or back pain, numbness, or a combination of both, that can also affect the arms and legs. If traditional non-surgical methods don’t take care of the pain, surgery involving removing the disc and replacing it with an artificial one or fusing the surrounding vertebrae is often the last-resort treatment.
Stem cell therapy used in the area of the affected disc, may help the disc to heal itself. This would reduce the inflammation, thus reducing the pressure on the nerves that cause the pain or numbness.
Stem cell therapy may be appropriate for treating degenerative disc disease in cervical and lumbar discs.
Why try it? — While orthopedic surgery remains a reasonable treatment option for some injuries and degenerative conditions, it doesn’t always work for everyone and it requires violation of normal anatomy and tissue. The goal of this minimally invasive procedure is to help you heal faster and regain pain-free motion while avoiding surgery and the inherit collateral damage it brings.
Adult stem cell therapy is a form of regenerative or biologic medicine. The goal of biologic therapy is to help your body heal itself. Stem cells exist naturally within your body. Their function is to provide healing in the event of injury. As we age, the number of stem cells in our body decreases, which can make our body’s natural healing less effective.
Our goal us to take stem cells from one part of a patient’s body, where they exist in higher concentrations and inject them into an injured area to potentially reinforce their power. The intent is that those stem cells will take cues from surrounding cells of certain types (bone, cartilage, muscle or other connective tissue) and develop into a similar type of cell, ultimately repairing the site.
Contact Prairie Spine and Pain Institute Today for More Information on Adult Stem Cell Therapy!
