If you’ve followed this series, you now understand that discogenic back pain is different from the radicular pain that comes from a disc herniation. Discogenic back pain is driven by changes inside the disc itself, rather than a piece of disc pushing on a nerve.
If you missed any earlier posts, you can catch up here:
Part 1: Causes of Low Back Pain
Part 2: Discogenic Back Pain vs Disc Herniation
Part 3: What Makes Discogenic Pain So Hard to Diagnose
Patients with a degenerating disc, or a disc tear, who have tried medications, physical therapy, chiropractic care, or even steroid injections without lasting relief, might be wondering what options are left.
Let’s talk about one of those today. A treatment that has gained significant attention in recent years is platelet-rich plasma, or PRP. You may have heard of PRP for knees, shoulders, or sports injuries, but it can also be used to treat certain causes of low back pain, including disc injury.
What Exactly Is PRP?
PRP stands for platelet-rich plasma, a treatment that uses a concentrated portion of your own blood to help stimulate healing.
Your blood contains several components:
- Red blood cells, which carry oxygen
- White blood cells, which fight infection
- Plasma, the liquid portion
- Platelets, which help your body heal damaged tissue
Platelets are responsible for clotting. When activated, platelets grow arms that can reach out, grab tissue, and pull it back together. Platelets also release powerful signaling molecules, called growth factors, that:
- Increase blood flow to injured areas
- Stimulate collagen production and support new cell growth
- Help repair damaged tissue
- Reduce inflammation
When you get a cut on your skin, platelets rush in to clot the area, pull the tissue edges together, and activate a coordinated healing process. PRP takes advantage of this natural process.
How PRP Is Made
- A small amount of your blood is drawn, usually from your arm.
- The blood is placed into a device called a centrifuge, which spins rapidly to separate the components.
- This process concentrates the platelets to many times their normal levels.
- The resulting platelet-rich plasma is collected and prepared for injection.
How Can PRP Help With Low Back Pain?
There are several ways that lumbar discs can contribute to low back pain. There could be a tear in the outer collagen layer (annulus fibrosis), the disc can break down, weaken, or lose hydration, or inflammation around the disc can irritate nearby nerves.
Using precise image guidance for accuracy, PRP can be injected either around the outside of the disc or directly into the center of the disc. Current research suggests that PRP may stimulate repair of annular tears, enhance disc strength by encouraging new collagen and extracellular matrix production, and reduce inflammation to calm and strengthen irritated nerves.
This treatment works with your body’s natural structure and function, not by masking symptoms or replacing structures. It’s minimally invasive, does not involve hardware, and allows you to return home the same day.
What Does the Research Say?
Although PRP is not a cure-all, published studies over the last decade have shown encouraging results for chronic low back pain related to disc problems. Many patients experience: Reduced pain, improved mobility, better ability to perform daily activities.
Because PRP works by stimulating biological healing, improvement is often gradual – beginning over several weeks and continuing for months. With proper rehab, we have seen that this improvement can be sustained over many years to come.
If you’re curious about whether PRP could help your low back pain, we encourage you to reach out for a consultation. A personalized evaluation can determine whether this regenerative approach might be the right next step for you.
References:
- Intradiscal Autologous Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection for Discogenic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Trial – PubMed
- Intradiscal Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection for Discogenic Low Back Pain and Correlation with Platelet Concentration: A Prospective Clinical Trial – PubMed
- Lumbar Intradiskal Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections: A Prospective, Double-Blind, Randomized Controlled Study – PubMed
- Platelet-rich plasma for the treatment of discogenic low back pain: a prospective randomized controlled trial – PubMed
- Patient Results – Regenexx
