Discogenic pain & degenerative disc disease
Early disc degeneration with matching pain pattern and preserved disc height.
- Single or two-level
- Modic I or II changes
- Preserved height
Stem cell therapy for degenerative disc disease, neck or lower back.
For discogenic pain, facet arthropathy, degenerative disc disease, and radicular (nerve) pain, mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy is worth reviewing before a fusion or disc replacement. Spine cases need more evaluation, not less, and we do it carefully.
Disc, facet & nerve
Discogenic pain, facet arthropathy, degenerative disc disease, and radicular nerve pain, lumbar and cervical.
8–16 wks
Response window. Spine response is typically the slowest of the joint regions. Improvement can keep building through the first year.
Medically reviewed by the physician team at Hospital Angeles · October 2026
Who is a candidate, and who needs a surgeon instead?
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.
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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.
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Strong fit
Discogenic pain, early degenerative disc disease
MRI-confirmed disc pathology, positive provocative discography or modic changes, pain pattern consistent with findings.
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Also a fit
Facet arthropathy & radicular pain
Facet-mediated axial pain confirmed by diagnostic block. Lumbar or cervical radicular pain, evaluated by mechanism and imaging concordance.
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Triaged first
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.
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
How is a spine injection guided?
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 mesenchymal stem cells (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 physician team after reviewing your imaging. Matched to your case, not pulled off a shelf. Why we use multiple cell types →
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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. Neither replaces the cell therapy.
Performed at Hospital Angeles, Tijuana, under local anesthetic, with twilight sedation available if you want it. Most patients are home the same day, with about a week of soreness before normal activity.
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MRI + mechanism map
Imaging cross-checked against pain pattern and prior diagnostic blocks. Level selection is deliberate.
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Target levels
Intradiscal, peridiscal, intra-facet, or combined. Single or multilevel, one to three levels typical.
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Fluoroscopic injection
Contrast confirmation at every level before cell release. Sterile cGMP handling throughout.
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Systemic IV
A systemic IV dose alongside the injection. The IV and the injection are designed to work together.
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Follow-up & review
The spine responds slowest, so the later calls matter most: a pain-and-safety call at 1 week, then calls at 1, 3 and 6 months, then once a year, by phone or video, from your patient coordinator or aftercare specialist. Spine is one session, like a joint. Whether a second treatment makes sense is decided at your follow-up reviews.
How long does the spine take to respond?
~ 1 wk
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.
~ 90 days
Function starts to return
Function begins improving for responders. Morning stiffness and sit-to-stand patterns shift.
~ 180 days
The 6-month review
A review of what has changed since your session. Whether a second treatment makes sense is decided at your follow-up reviews.
Through year 1
Still building
Improvement can keep building through the first year. How long it holds varies by case and individual response. The physician team discusses what's realistic during review.
Spine is one session, like a joint. Because these problems build up over years, not weeks, the response is read over months. Whether a second treatment makes sense is decided at your follow-up reviews.
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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 the same day, which runs its own faster sleep-and-energy curve alongside this slower local one. On activity, though, spine is the lighter lift: unlike a knee, hip, ankle or foot injection, which asks you to stay off the joint for the first 7 to 10 days, most spine patients are cleared for normal activity once the first week of soreness passes.
What does a fusion change?
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.
Can MSC therapy avoid spinal fusion?
For discogenic, facet-mediated, or radicular pain without instability, it is a legitimate path to evaluate. When the picture points to surgery instead, like instability or a worsening nerve problem, fusion or decompression is typically the right answer, and we will tell you so.
What if I have a herniated disc?
It depends on the type. Large extruded herniations that are causing a worsening nerve problem are surgical cases, and we route those to the right care promptly. Contained herniations, including those driving chronic radicular pain, are evaluated individually. If your MRI names one level and your surgeon has named a fusion, the herniated disc page walks through that exact case: who qualifies, who needs the surgeon, and how the injection compares with a fusion.
Will this help sciatica or radicular pain?
Sciatica is a symptom; the structural and inflammatory driver is what we evaluate. In our experience, many patients with chronic radicular pain see meaningful change, because the mechanism we target is the inflammatory environment around the nerve root, not nerve regeneration. If something needs urgent care instead, we recognize it during evaluation and route you there, but the presentation alone does not rule you out. Individual results vary.
Can I drive home the same day?
Most patients are home the same day, after the attending physician has authorized discharge. An overnight happens only when your intake says so, not discovered on arrival. A Celva driver handles pickup and return, so do not plan a long drive of your own that day. Expect about a week of soreness, then normal activity.
Start with a careful read.
Your first call is with a Celva patient coordinator. Celva's physician 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.
Not medical advice. Individual results vary. Spine candidacy undergoes additional screening including neurologic assessment. Seek emergency care for sudden weakness, numbness, or loss of bladder or bowel control.