Anywhere from 11% to 40% of American adults suffer from chronic pain.
The most common type of pain is back pain. In the US, 80% of adults will experience back pain at some point in their life. But is there anything you can do to get relief?
There are a number of conventional methods for treating back pain – but none are guaranteed and some are incredibly invasive. But stem cell therapy is a relatively new back pain treatment that offers promising results.
If you’re suffering from back pain, read on to learn more about the benefits of stem cell therapy for your condition.
7 Benefits of Stem Cell Therapy for Back Pain
Stem cell therapy is also known as regenerative medicine. It uses stem cells to repair diseased, dysfunctional, and/or injured tissue.
When it comes to back pain, anything that brings relief is welcome. But below we’ve listed the top 8 benefits of stem cell therapy specifically for back pain.
1. Stem Cell Therapy Is a Holistic Approach
Stem cell therapy repairs damaged discs and facet joints to restore mobility and function. Stem cells rehydrate the tissue and have the potential to significantly reduce chronic pain. And they do all this using the cells produced by your own body.
The therapy harvests bone marrow aspirate cellular concentrate (BMAC) from your own body. The BMAC concentrate is then re-injected into the area treatment area.
The injections involved in stem cell therapy don’t involve any chemicals or anything synthesized. In fact, there’s no risk of allergic reaction or rejection because your own stem cells are being used.
2. Stem Cell Treatment Carries Little Risk
In a stem cell therapy procedure, a long needle extracts bone marrow from the hip or fat cells of the patient. In order to identify and remove the primitive cells used in the therapy, the bone marrow is then spun in a centrifuge.
Those specific primitive stem cells are then re-injected into the area being treated. The stem cells help stimulate collagen production and healing in the disc or joint.
It’s important that a highly trained physician administers the therapy. The placement of the needle into the vertebral disc or facet joint is a precise procedure that requires professional expertise and experience.
As long as the therapy is performed by a qualified physician, there is very little risk. However, it’s possible that the injection can cause infection, bleeding, or nerve damage.
3. Treat Disc Degeneration
The most common cause of back pain is disc degeneration and herniation. Disc degeneration and herniation are commonly caused by aging. But they can also be caused or exacerbated by Degenerative Disc Disorder, arthritis, and injury.
Disc degeneration is when the cells that make up the disc’s structure are continually being lost. As healthy cells are damaged and hydration is lost, tears can also occur in the disc. The result of disc degeneration is decreased mobility and function, stiffness, weakness, and pain.
Stem cell therapy reinjects your adult stem cells into the damaged disc. The stem cells restore the height of the disc as well as hydration. The result is less pain and restored mobility.
4. Treat Facet Joint Dysfunction
The spinal facets joints are found on the back of either side of each spinal segment. Facet joint dysfunction can cause pain anywhere along the spine but it’s most commonly associated with neck and back pain. It’s usually caused by traumatic injuries such as whiplash as well as sport-related injuries.
Facet joint dysfunction can affect mobility and function. It can lead to stiffness, weakness, as well as pain.
Like treating disc degeneration, stem cell therapy treats facet joint dysfunction with your own adult stem cells. These are injected into damaged joints in order to restore their structure and alleviate symptoms.
5. Recover from Acute and Sub-Acute Injuries Faster
While stem cell therapy is mostly associated with treating chronic pain from degenerative discs, dysfunctional facet joints, and sciatica, it also shows promise for acute and sub-acute injuries. By using stem cells in the acute stages of an injury, recovery times can be significantly improved.
6. Stem Cell Therapy Is Minimally Invasive
The first line of treatment for back pain and herniated discs is exercise and weight loss and physical therapy. Doctors may prescribe anti-inflammatories and pain medications.
When these treatments don’t work and the pain becomes too much, the last option is invasive spinal surgery. These involve general anesthesia and physical rehabilitation.
Spinal surgeries aren’t guaranteed to fully relieve symptoms. It’s not uncommon for patients to continue to experience pain and reduced mobility after spinal surgery. But stem cell therapy offers an alternative treatment that’s minimally invasive.
7. Stem Cell Treatment Offers Quick Relief
Some individuals experience relief from back pain after 1 stem cell therapy treatment of 2 to 3 injections. While most people see results within 3 months of receiving the therapy, others will feel the benefits sooner.
Are You Looking for Pain Relief?
The majority of American adults will experience some form of back pain in their life. Whether caused by degeneration, herniation, injury, or arthritis, the benefits of stem cell therapy are many.
Stem cell therapy has the potential to relieve pain and restore mobility. This holistic approach to treating chronic pain uses your own cell’s to restore damaged tissue and activate the healing process.
If you’re suffering from pain, read more about your treatment options on our blog.