Yeah I broke my spine many years ago during some athletic endeavors. More specifically, I tore the discs at L4-L5 and L5-S1 and some degeneration at L3-L4. Torn discs never heal, they have no blood supply, therefore no materials to heal with. The tear allows the fluid inside the disc to leak out and touch the nerves causing pain. Then there’s inflammation around the joint and so on. Unfortunately that interior fluid does not have any material with which to repair the disc. Powerlifting is not for me. I could ramble on but I won’t. Bodies are rather specific and mechanical leverages differ drastically from one person to the next.
Anyway, I’ve had back and hip pain to varying degrees for roughly five years. Six weeks ago I had a stem cell injection to heal the discs with the Advanced Diagnostics Pain Treatment Center in New Haven, Connecticut. Dr. Michael Robbins D.O.
https://www.stemcellshealme.com/
Here’s the low down. I had level 4 (out of 5) grade tears. I had low back and sciatic pain in my hip/glute area whenever I did anything physical or athletic. Which was most of the time. A disc fusion or artificial disc replacement were not options because they are major surgery. If by chance they do work and remove the pain, they also limit mobility forever. I’d rather live with the pain than risk that.
But the stem cells, that was a viable option. It involved extracting the bone marrow from my pelvis, spinning it down in a purpose built centrifuge, and re-injecting the concentrated stem cells into the damaged discs. It was done in a hospital under general anesthesia (I was asleep through the procedure).
Does it work? This is still somewhat of an experimental procedure but research has been done and yes it does work. Here’s one of the primary journal articles that I used to make my decision:
Percutaneous Injection of Autologous Bone
Marrow Concentrate Cells Significantly Reduces
Lumbar Discogenic Pain through 12 Months
Kenneth A. Pettine, M.D.,1 Matthew B. Murphy, Ph.D.,2,3 Richard
K. Suzuki, Ph.D.,3 Theodore T. Sand, Ph.D.3
I have done additional research on my own and trusted my doctor and his other patients that had the same procedure, one a police officer, another a semi-pro golfer. Testosterone Nation (https://www.t-nation.com/), a rather popular training website has posted numerous times about stem cells treatments and other cutting edge recovery methods that bypass surgery. Another treatment I had was Platelete Rich Plasma (PRP) in the ligaments surrounding my sacrum and vertebrae. I’ll do a separate post for that.
I took the leap and took control of my own well-being and for the benefit of science.
I am six weeks out from the injection, how do I feel? Exactly the same as I did before the treatment! Why? Because these stem cells, very basic human cells, are going to take a very long time to repair one of the strongest links in the body. Six months to completely heal, if not longer. I think I will do another post with more specifics to how I felt week by week.
My employer will not let me back to work yet. I am a machine operator on press brakes, welders, and cutting lasers. I am limited to not lifting, pulling, or pushing more than ten pounds. While my work involves a lot of small parts weighing less than a pound, I think they are concerned with the volume of said parts that we process. At first I was quite disappointed and depressed because I want to work and make money and buy a home for myself but they may be right because a moment of ill discipline could interrupt the healing process.
Absolutely no weight training for the foreseeable future. Before the injection I continued to barbell squat, press overhead, carry heavy things, and generally continue my strength training. I did additional core strengthening for obliques, quadratus lumborum, and anti-rotation. The catch was, any barbell work (or anything heavy) was painful, I couldn’t sprint either which ruled out any amateur sports (I thought about trying rugby), martial arts also out of the loop. I couldn’t lift what I used to, I completely dropped deadlifts (I blew the discs at 330lbs, double body weight at the time) and my back squat disappeared; from 225 for reps to no more than 135 for a couple. I should mention that when I blew the discs at 330, I had prior low back injuries but they healed and I was able to get stronger. But the 330 was the end of the line because the discs opened up. I don’t know what I did before the 330, probably just bulges that eventually receded but the chronic pain and the sciatica was the crown jewel of back injuries.
I didn’t have an MRI until about 2 years after the 330 because I didn’t have insurance or disposable income because I was only working part time. But the same pain for years meant something and I finally went to a doctor that immediately ordered an MRI. And there it was. Then the process began of finding the correct doctors to fix it.
I’ll end it there for now and move on to a post about PRP, how I found my doctors, and other painful details.
During my down time; collecting disability insurance, selling old stuff on ebay, reading books, educating myself for a future career as a boat mechanic, and writing my short stories, I might as well also share my pain.
-Larry
Larry Henrikson 