Here's some information about Regenexx™ and their stem cell therapy for knee, hip, shoulder and spine injuries and disorders. All of the information below can be found on the Regenexx™ website and is posted here for educational purposes (all text and images below are © Regenerative Sciences, Inc. 2008).

Make sure to visit their Frequently Asked Questions page: Regenexx Adult Stem Cell Therapy.



The Regenexx™ Procedure - alternative to traditional joint and bone surgery

About Regenexx™

The Regenexx™ procedure is a breakthrough, non-surgical treatment option for people suffering from moderate to severe joint or bone pain due to injury and other conditions. If you are experiencing knee, hip or shoulder pain, you have probably been given two choices: pain management or surgery. And if you are under the age of 65, neither option is optimal.

Have you been told you need back surgery for a “slipped” or herniated disc? Every year millions of people undergo painful and expensive lumbar spine surgeries. Frequently, this does not help their original pain, and they are left with other painful conditions such as decreased back motion, decreased activity levels, and chronic muscle spasms.

As you can see in the video below, cutting away the supporting fibers of the disc may weaken the structure, thus leading to more problems down the road. To see what the Regenexx DISC procedure has to offer, click on the short videos below.





The Regenexx DISC Procedure, the Back Surgery Alternative

Using your body’s own stem cells, the Regenexx DISC procedure can reduce the size of bulging or herniated lumbar discs, offering relief from painful conditions such as:
  • Low back pain
  • Buttock and leg pain
  • Numbness and tingling in your legs and/or feet
The procedure is simply and injection of your own stem cells into the damaged disc and is thus minimally invasive with a very limited recovery period.

What makes the procedure better than traditional back surgery?
  • Most patients with low back surgery are “on their back” on the couch, recovering for week to months. Not so with the Regenexx DISC procedure. In this procedure, there are a few days to a week to soreness and then your OK for activity as tolerated.
  • Traditional low back surgery usually weakens the disc, the Regenexx DISC procedure has consistently demonstrated evidence on MRI of healing the back of the disc.
  • Traditional low back surgery can cut through important muscles and has a high complication rate. In facet, depending on the type of surgery, serious complications can be as much as 3-5 people in 100. Since the Regenexx DISC procedure is performed through an injection, there is no damage to important back muscles! In addition, the possible complications are similar to other types of injections.


Regenexx Lumbar Disc Procedure as an Alternative to Surgery

Our lumbar disc bulge research effort is a great example of how we’re committed to high quality cellular therapy. As pain management physicians, our initial interest is using stem cells for tissue repair was in the spine. The animal models had predicted great success. These researchers had just placed mesenchymal stem cells into a degenerated disc and it magically regenerated to about 80% of it’s pre-injury status. We went through an Institutional Review Board and got approval to place stem cells in the discs of a few human patients. We watched and were very excited to see absolutely nothing happen on MRI. We scratched our heads and wondered why this worked so well in animals, but not in people. When we investigated further there were big differences between the animal models and our patients. We then spent another 1-2 years trying to isolate those differences. After making significant changes to the procedure, we were able to finally obtain reliable results. Some three years after we began, we finally released this therapy to commercial patients. Here are some examples of successes. Realize that all of these patients would have needed surgery, but were only treated through a needle.


MRI Before Treatment__________________MRI 3 Months After Treatment

32 year old with a many year history of chronic back and leg pain due to central L5-S1 disc bulge causing compression of both S1 nerve roots. 3 months after the Regenexx procedure, he had elimination of his symptoms. An MRI done 3 months later (on the right) shows significant reduction is size of disc bulge.

Case 2

A 28 year old female, who had years of back pain and intermittet leg pain after a failed microdiscectomy surgery.


1 month before Regenexx Procedure______________ 3 months after Regenexx Procedure

Notice that the disc bulge (circled) has flattened in the image on the right compared to the image on the left. The spinal canal diameter at this level has also increased from 1.0 cm to 1.2 cm.

Case 3

35 yo WM with a many year history of low back and leg pain as a result of a L4-L5 disc. Discography confirmed that this disc was causing most of his low back pain. The patient failed epidurals and physical therapy.



Notice the high intensity zone in the back of the disc on the left in the before picture (the whitish area in the back of the disc). This represents a tear that is liekly causing the bulge. Now note how on the right (3 months post procedure) that this tear goes away (no longer a big white area in the back of the disc). The patient reports 75% improvement in his symptoms.