At Snyder Family Chiropractic, it is our aim to provide the best chiropractic care. Sometimes however we need to refer to another professional where options such as an injection or at worst, surgery is required. Although we may refer you, we are still in your corner and want the best for you. It is important for you to have the education to make good decisions for your own health. Below is a summary of a new study that looks promising for a minimally invasive and restorative approach. Bookmark this page for reference should the need arise.
Until then, keep up with your chiropractic maintenance care and get your spine checked and adjusted as suggested by Dr. Snyder.
British scientists developed an injectable disc nucleus that regenerates the shock-absorbing core of lumbar discs — patients who had been told they needed spinal fusion were pain-free after a single outpatient injection.
The intervertebral disc derives its shock-absorbing capacity from the nucleus pulposus — a highly hydrated gel-like structure containing proteoglycans that attract and retain water, maintaining disc height and distributing spinal load evenly across the vertebral endplates. Disc degeneration begins with nucleus dehydration — progressive loss of proteoglycan content reduces water retention, the disc flattens, load distribution becomes abnormal, annular tears occur, and herniation follows. Restoring nucleus hydration could reverse disc degeneration at its biological root.
Researchers at University College London and the Wellcome Sanger Institute developed NucleoFill — an injectable hyaluronic acid-polyethylene glycol hydrogel functionalized with covalently attached aggrecan — the primary proteoglycan responsible for nucleus pulposus water retention. The liquid formulation is injected through a 22-gauge needle into the disc nucleus under fluoroscopic guidance, where it crosslinks in situ to form a hydrogel with osmotic swelling pressure matching native nucleus pulposus.
The aggrecan molecules remain osmotically active for 24 months before biodegrading — by which time stimulated nucleus pulposus progenitor cells have populated the scaffold and begun producing endogenous proteoglycans to sustain the regenerated disc.
In 62 patients with moderate disc degeneration and radicular pain, NucleoFill injection produced 4.1-millimeter average disc height restoration at six months. Radicular pain resolved in 54 patients within four weeks.
Source: University College London & Wellcome Sanger Institute, The Lancet, 2024