What is stem cell therapy? How can you use it for treating a backache?

Backache is one of the most common ailments that can affect anybody at any stage in their lives. Yes, the pain can be excruciating and unbearable. The reasons for a backache are various. However, we shall concentrate on the degenerative disc disease and the look at some of the most exciting treatment procedures available to treat an acute backache, Stem Therapy.

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Recently, you must have seen a spate of advertisements on television and otherwise about the use of stem cells to treat lower back pain. Is it possible for the stem cells to regenerate and repair the degenerating spine discs? It is an appealing concept, but patients should know the science behind stem therapy before opting to undergo such treatment procedures. Many people are unaware about what is stem cell therapy.

What are stem cells?

System cells are those cells in the body that have not yet transformed into cells that perform specific functions. You find them in the bone marrow and the umbilical cord. In fact, you can call them as reserve cells having the capacity to regenerate and perform the specific functions of any cell in the body when you place them in the particular environment.  

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What is the most popular use of stem cell therapy?

You must have heard of the bone marrow transplant operations to cure blood cancer. The process involves the replacement of the damaged bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells procured from a bone marrow donor. It is necessary that the donor should be a close relative of the patient.

Stem therapy and backache

If stem therapy can cure challenging diseases like blood cancer, it should be able to bring relief from other ailments as well. It set out the researchers to try out stem cell therapy for back pain
as a form of new treatment for low back pain. The hypothesis is that harvesting and re-injecting the body’s bone marrow can repair degenerated discs in the spine. Theoretically, these stem cells could turn into cartilage cells and regenerate the disc, thereby providing relief from lower back pain. Does it sound great? Yes, it does, but is it possible?  Look for what is stem cell therapy for back pain & read about the treatments.

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A promising idea

If you look at the problem from a theoretical point of view, it is possible. However, there is still a lot of research to do in this field of medicine. The early results are promising enough to warrant extensive research. Stem cell therapy for back pain can bring long-lasting relief to millions of people suffering from chronic back pain. This treatment will drastically reduce the use of opioids in the treatment of back injuries.

Statistics show that more than 33000 people have lost their lives due to overdoses from prescription opioids. It is not the backache or the opioid treatment procedure that has killed them. The principal cause of worry in these cases is the addiction to the opioids such as Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, and Methadone. Stem cell therapy for pain has the potential to change the entire scenario.

How can stem cell therapy work?

The procedure involves the injection of the stem cells into the damaged discs between the vertebrae of the spine. Each dose contains approximately 6 million cells. Also known as mesenchymal precursor cells, they can reduce the inflammation and secrete factors that help rebuild damaged tissue.

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Experiments on animals, especially sheep have proved fruitful. The injected stem cells rebuilt the damaged vertebral discs entirely prompting the medical research team to try this technique on people   

The procedure

The procedure involves using a long needle to extract bone marrow from the back of the hip. The next part is to spin the extracted bone marrow in a centrifuge to concentrate the cells before injecting them into the space around the damaged discs. These cells regenerate into cartilage cells and fill up the gaps between the discs thereby ensuring that they do not rub against each other to cause the excruciating pain. The treatment might cost a few thousand dollars. That should not be much to ensure life-long relief from a degenerative backache.

Encouraging results

The procedure is still in its experimentation state as no one knows the risk of unintended consequences. It will take some years to understand the drawbacks of the process. More than 50% of the initial patients administered with this treatment have reported that they have received significant relief in the form of reduced pain for over a year. The encouraging factor is that no patient reported any complications. However, the risk of infection is always there because of the use of injections.

A word of caution

One must agree that there have been encouraging results, but there is a long way to go before certifying stem cell therapy for pain as a surefire cure for lower back pain.

Theoretically, the immune system does not attack its cells if used in a transplant. It is known as an autologous transplant in medical circles. However, there is a big question mark over the processes of acquiring the cells, growing them, and reintroducing them into the body. It opens up a plethora of risks such as bacterial and viral infections. There can also be cases of human error involving mixing of cells from two different persons. Some clinics can also manipulate the cells thereby interfering with the normal functions. The reintroduction of the cells should be precise. If you inject them at the wrong places, there are chances of severe complications including the formation of tumors leading to cancer.

Conclusion

Any new therapy takes time before gaining popularity. Stem cell therapy has proved successful in treating blood cancer. However, the use of stem cell therapy to treat lower back pain is still in the experimentation stage. The day is not far away when this procedure will revolutionize treatment for backache. It has the potential to be successful. The initial results have been encouraging. However, FDA has not yet approved this treatment procedure. Therefore, insurance is not available for this treatment. Maybe, things will change in the future. It is better to keep our fingers crossed in the matter.