Medically reviewed by the Celva medical team · June 2026
Before you consent
to a fusion.
For discogenic pain, facet arthropathy, degenerative disc disease, and radicular (nerve) pain, MSC therapy is worth reviewing before a fusion or disc replacement. Spine cases need more evaluation, not less, and we do it carefully.
Discogenic pain, facet arthropathy, DDD, and radicular nerve pain, lumbar and cervical.
Spine response is typically the slowest of the joint regions. Peak at six months.
Spine cases get
harder scrutiny.
Not every back or neck pain is a spine-structure problem, and not every spine-structure problem responds to biologics. The point of the evaluation is to separate those three categories before anyone commits.
Patients who do well have identifiable disc, facet, or nerve-root pathology, confirmed imaging findings, and pain mechanisms that match. They've often been through PT, injections, and ablations without durable relief.
The spine is its own structure: a central column held upright by the muscles and ligaments around it, more like a tree than a single joint. We treat the disc, facet, or nerve root that's driving your pain, with the supporting frame around it accounted for, which is why the spine is evaluated and treated on its own terms.
Spine gets the most careful evaluation of any region. We review every case thoroughly, and if something would be better handled with urgent or surgical care than with cell therapy, we recognize it and point you to the right place. The way your pain presents on its own doesn't rule you out.
Discogenic pain, early DDD
MRI-confirmed disc pathology, positive provocative discography or modic changes, pain pattern consistent with findings.
Facet arthropathy & radicular pain
Facet-mediated axial pain confirmed by diagnostic block. Lumbar or cervical radicular pain, evaluated by mechanism and imaging concordance.
When another tool fits better
Some spine findings are better handled by urgent or surgical care than by cell therapy. We screen for them during evaluation and route you to the right place. We refer when that is the right tool.
Spine conditions
the physician team evaluates.
Discogenic pain & DDD
Early disc degeneration with matching pain pattern and preserved disc height.
- Single or two-level
- Modic I or II changes
- Preserved height
Facet arthropathy
Facet-mediated axial pain confirmed by diagnostic block response.
- Positive block response
- Non-radicular pattern
- Chronic > 6 months
Post-surgical & refractory
Persistent pain after decompression, failed back syndrome, post-ablation patients still searching.
- Post-laminectomy drift
- Failed back syndrome
- Refractory axial pain
Radicular & nerve-root pain
Lumbar and cervical radiculopathy and sciatica from an inflammatory or contained-disc source. We target the inflammatory environment around the nerve root, not nerve regeneration.
- Sciatica & radiculopathy
- Imaging-concordant level
- No untreated red flags
Fluoroscopic
multi-level delivery.
Spine injections require fluoroscopic guidance with contrast confirmation at every level. No ultrasound shortcuts. No blind injection.
Spine cases like yours use bone-marrow and umbilical-cord MSCs, often in combination and sometimes with chondrocytes for cartilage support. Intradiscal or peridiscal delivery for disc cases, intra-facet for facet pathology, or combined for mixed presentations. The exact recipe is decided by Celva's medical team after reviewing your imaging. Matched to your case, not pulled off a shelf. Why we use multiple cell types →
In some spine cases the medical team may add a supporting therapy alongside the cells. PRP (platelet-rich plasma, growth factors concentrated from your own blood) supports the local tissue environment. Medical ozone, placed into the epidural space or directly into the disc, can help calm inflammation and ease pressure inside an irritated disc. These are not part of every case, and when they are used it is sometimes in a later session rather than the first. Neither replaces the cell therapy.
Performed at Hospital Angeles, Tijuana, under light sedation. Most patients travel home the following morning with activity modifications in place.
MRI + mechanism map
Imaging cross-checked against pain pattern and prior diagnostic blocks. Level selection is deliberate.
Target levels
Intradiscal, peridiscal, intra-facet, or combined. Single or multilevel, one to three levels typical.
Fluoroscopic injection
Contrast confirmation at every level before cell release. Sterile cGMP handling throughout.
Systemic IV
A systemic IV dose alongside the injection. Circulating cells are drawn toward inflammation and migrate toward the levels we just treated, reinforcing the local work while calming inflammation body-wide.
Follow-up & re-treatment
We score ODI (lumbar) or NDI (neck) and VAS at baseline, then at 6 and 12 months, since the spine responds slowest. A lighter pain-and-safety check comes around six weeks. Some patients need a single session; many do better with a course of one to three, six to sixteen weeks apart, with imaging on return.
Spine is the
slowest joint region.
Activity resumption
Most spine patients have local soreness for about a week, then are cleared to return to normal activity. The response signal still arrives later; this is about what you can do, not when relief lands.
Measurable shift
Function begins improving for responders. Morning stiffness and sit-to-stand patterns shift.
Peak window
Best achievable relief, after your session or course of sessions. A later booster is still an option if your response is partial.
Durability window
The therapeutic effect persists long after the cells have done their work. Duration varies by case and individual response. The physician team discusses what's realistic during review.
Some spine cases respond to a single session, but many do better with a course. Because these problems build up over years, not weeks, we often recommend one to three sessions, six to sixteen weeks apart, and reassess as we go. A further booster is still an option later if your response is partial.
Expect the first days to start with soreness, not relief. The needle work through the surrounding tissue creates inflammation by design, and that settles before any meaningful shift begins. Almost every spine-injection patient also receives a systemic IV, recommended by the medical team, which runs its own faster sleep-and-energy curve alongside this slower local one. On activity, though, spine is the lighter lift: unlike a peripheral joint injection, which asks you to stay off the joint for seven to ten days and build back slowly, most spine patients are cleared for normal activity once the first week of soreness passes.
A fusion can settle one segment, but it stiffens part of a structure built to move as a whole. The levels above and below take the extra load, and we often see those patients a year or two later with new pain somewhere else. The spine works like a tree: stiffen the trunk and you change everything around it. So we look hard at whether a less destructive option fits first. When there's true instability or an urgent finding, decompression or fusion is the right tool, and we'll say so.
Spine-specific
questions.
Q.01Can MSC therapy avoid spinal fusion?
Q.02What if I have a herniated disc?
Q.03Will this help sciatica or radicular pain?
Q.04Can I drive home the same day?
Other joint regions
we treat.
Start with a
careful read.
Your first call is with a Celva patient coordinator. Celva's medical team then reviews your imaging, history, and pain pattern, and tells you plainly whether MSC therapy is a realistic option or whether surgery is the honest answer.