Stem Cell Treatment for Back Pain in Milwaukee and Across Wisconsin

What is stem cell therapy for back pain?

Neck and back pain are among the most common, yet most ignored, problems people live with. In 2016, an estimated 29% of U.S. adults had experienced lower back pain lasting more than three months, and many of them simply put up with it and take painkillers when it gets bad.

You don't have to accept a lower quality of life because of back pain. At Spectrum Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center, we believe you should enjoy life at your fittest, so we offer advanced regenerative medicine for the spine. Stem cell therapy for the lower back is one of several regenerative treatments available at our clinic.

What is causing my lower back pain?

The spine is made up of bones called vertebrae, separated at each level by flexible cartilage discs. As we age, these discs can degenerate, tear or dry out. This can happen to anyone, but injuries, intense sports and arthritis can speed up the degeneration and bring on pain. This condition is called degenerative disc disease.

Sometimes a disc bulges out between two vertebrae and presses on nearby nerve roots, causing severe pain. This is commonly called a slipped disc or herniated disc.

What are the current treatments for lower back pain?

Early lower back pain is usually managed with exercise and physical therapy. As disc degeneration continues, patients often turn to pain relievers and anti-inflammatory medications. These help in the short term, but taken for long periods they can cause gastritis and kidney problems.

Steroid injections can be given into the affected area. They can reduce the swelling that comes with disc degeneration, but they tend to weaken the existing cartilage and, over time, can make spinal disease worse.

For severe disease, doctors may offer spinal fusion surgery, an invasive procedure that fuses together the vertebrae on either side of the damaged disc. More than 20% of patients still have pain after spinal fusion. In fact, with most of these treatments, chronic back pain can persist or come back and keep reducing your quality of life.

At Spectrum, we offer more than these standard options. Regenerative medicine aims to support repair of the damaged disc and joint tissue in your spine. Our physicians, Dr. Roman Berezovski and Dr. Alan Locke, bring years of regenerative medicine experience and have successfully treated lower back pain with stem cell therapy.

How can stem cells help my lower back pain?

Stem cells are also known as medicinal signaling cells, because they help direct the healing process and support repair of spinal joint tissue damaged by wear and tear. When injected into the spine, they can turn into chondrocytes, the cells that lay down fresh cartilage, which may help repair a degenerated disc. They also reduce inflammation, which in turn reduces pain (Sampson et al., 2017).

What does the research say?

• Pettine et al. (2017) followed 26 patients for three years after stem cell injections into the disc. All had originally been candidates for spinal fusion or disc replacement surgery. Twenty reported improvement in pain and function, and no patient had an adverse event from the harvest or the injection.
• Ambach et al. (2017) reviewed several studies of adult stem cells for intervertebral disc disease. All showed improvement in pain scores, with greater pain relief when more stem cells were injected. MRI scans also showed that degenerative disc disease stopped progressing and better-quality cartilage was laid down.
• A meta-analysis by Wu et al. (2018) reviewed six studies of pain and disability outcomes and concluded that patients who received mesenchymal stem cell therapy for lower back pain had better pain scores and better disability scores.

Am I a candidate for lower back stem cell injections?

Stem cell therapy for lower back pain is ideal for patients who have had traumatic back injuries and those who have lived with chronic pain for a long time. Ask yourself:

• Have you had lower back pain for more than three months?
• Are conservative treatments not working for you?
• Would you like to keep playing sports or staying active?
• Would you rather avoid surgery at all costs?

If you answered yes to most of these questions, you should consider stem cell therapy for your lower back as a way to avoid surgery. Our team will help you decide whether it is right for you.

What does the procedure involve?

Stem cell injections for lower back pain are done as an office procedure without general anesthesia. Both the harvest site and the injection site are numbed with local anesthetic, and you can have nitrous gas to help you relax and ease discomfort. The whole process takes three to four hours.

Why choose stem cells over steroid injections and surgery?

Stem cell therapy is a more natural way to treat lower back pain because it uses your body's own biological mechanisms to repair damaged tissue. Adult stem cells taken from your own body carry a low risk of reaction, unlike steroid and local anesthetic injections, which have several side effects and eventually speed up damage to the disc.

Because it is an outpatient procedure, you skip the protocols that come with surgery: no lengthy pre-operative workup and no long hospital stay. All you need is a single consultation of about an hour before the procedure. You go home the same day with a driver, and because the procedure is minimally invasive, you won't need prolonged bed rest or rehabilitation. You can resume light daily activities almost immediately.

What are the side effects?

Serious side effects from stem cell injections in the lower back are rare. In the past, there were concerns about tumor growth, because in theory stem cells can turn into anything. That concern applies to pluripotent stem cells. At Spectrum, we never use embryonic stem cells. We use mesenchymal stem cells from your own bone marrow and adipose tissue, or other stem cell and regenerative biologics, which have not been associated with abnormal growth. Your own cells carry no risk of rejection, and the other biologics we use are screened and well tolerated by most patients.

The injection itself can cause pain, swelling and bruising at the injection site. Our physicians use precise, image-guided technique to keep these to a minimum.

As with any procedure, there is a slight risk of infection. Everything from harvest to injection is done under strict sterile conditions, so infections rarely occur.

How much does stem cell therapy for lower back pain cost?

Cost depends on the treatment area and how many discs or joints are involved, and we go over it in detail during your evaluation. For reference, a single knee stem cell procedure at Spectrum is $4,500, and a second joint treated at the same time is 40% off. Many patients choose this non-surgical approach to avoid spinal surgery and its long recovery.

Most insurance plans, including Medicare, do not cover stem cell injections, though related imaging such as X-rays or MRI may be covered. We accept cash, checks, all major credit and debit cards, and HSA and FSA cards, and we offer financing through CareCredit and Cherry.

When is back pain an emergency, and where can I get care near Milwaukee?

For chronic back pain, our Wauwatosa clinic serves Milwaukee, Waukesha, Brookfield and Kenosha, and we welcome patients from Northern Illinois. Request a free phone consultation with a doctor; a Care Coordinator will call you back within 2 hours during business hours.

• Spectrum Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine Center, 2500 N. Mayfair Rd., Suite 630, Wauwatosa, WI 53226
• Phone 414-420-9008 · Fax (414) 973-2870
• Hours: Monday–Friday 9 AM–5 PM, Saturday 9 AM–3 PM, Sunday closed

Your physicians

Every procedure at Spectrum is performed by a physician — Dr. Roman Berezovski and Dr. Alan Locke work side by side, using live ultrasound or X-ray guidance to place treatment exactly where you hurt.

Dr. Roman Berezovski, MD Medical Director

Dr. Alan Locke, DO Clinic Director

Frequently asked questions