Stem cell therapy for Neck Pain

Neck pain is one of the most common complaints among adults. It affects nearly 50% of the adult population at some point in their lives. Persistent neck pain is a common result of wear and tear on the neck, degenerative changes due to aging, herniated disks, bone spurs, as well as a result of injuries sustained from working, playing sports, or just being active.

Since the neck area is the site of the nerves that transmit signals to and from the rest of the body, it's understandable why an injury to the soft tissues in the neck can cause worse pain in other areas of the body, ranging from joint pain (jaw pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, hip pain, knee pain) to other varied nerve pain, headaches, vertigo. Functional issues (like irritable bowel syndrome) can also be associated with persistent neck pain.

Treatments for chronic neck pain conditions often include rest, self-care, and physical therapy. However, these options are not always sufficient and the intractable pain becomes harder to treat. Pain specialists may recommend pharmaceutical medications and alternative therapeutics such as injections of platelet-rich plasma.

However, these measures do not always yield the desired results, especially in persistent neck pain.This is where regenerative medicine, specifically stem cell therapy, is helpful for the local damaged tissue and for the systemic sequelae that often accompany. In this article, you will discover more about stem cell therapy for neck pain and its proven benefits.

When should you get stem cell therapy for neck pain?

For most people, neck pain is temporary, being the result of a prolonged tension or injury that can be alleviated by rest, with massage and acupuncture or with pharmaceutical or orthomolecular medications. For others however, neck pain becomes chronic, a daily reminder that something is significantly wrong. In these cases, a thorough physical assessment and neurological examinations may reveal that stem cell therapy may be indicated.

Indications for stem cell therapy include all range of diseases and medical conditions in the neck area involving cervical spine vertebrae and surrounding tissue: neuromuscular disease, degenerative disc disease, cervical vertebrae and cervical disk degeneration conditions, disc herniation, cervical spine conditions, nerve injury, facet joints tissue damage, orthopedic injuries, ligamentous injury types, cervical spine ligament instability, connective tissue conditions, pain post spinal surgeries, pain due to nerve compression.

In addition to orthopedic condition indications, stem cells are considered an effective solution in addressing many of the wide range of systemic causes of chronic neck pain: inflammatory, autoimmune, arthritic, metabolic, hormonal, and in some cases serve as support in treatment of iatrogenic and infectious causes of neck pain, improving recovery time.

How does stem cell therapy help with neck pain?

Stem cells are specialized cells that carry information for tissue repair, regeneration and reprogramming to a healthier and younger state. Stem cell treatments vary from country to country, clinic to clinic, most using adult stem cells (multipotent stem cells ex: mesenchymal stem cells, adipose tissue stem cells, bone marrow stem cells). Stemaid Institute is the only treatment facility in the world administering pluripotent stem cells.

Pluripotent stem cells release unique signaling factors into the tissues they reach. These are specialized molecules, transcriptions factors, mRNAs, miRNAs, peptides that signal repair, regeneration and reprogramming. The healing properties are potent and vast. Growth factors, neurotrophic factors, angiogenic factors, DNA repair factors, mitochondrial factors, Yamanaka factors are all involved in the healing process coming from these stem cells.

How is stem cell therapy for neck pain administered?

Stem cell procedures vary clinic to clinic. At Stemaid institute, we provide 3 different laboratory grown stem cell products: standard pluripotent stem cells, autologous pluripotent stem cells and Plurisomes. Stem cell procedures at Stemaid involve intravenous administration of stem cell products and local stem cell injections. Sites for stem cells administration vary, patient to patient. For chronic neck pain, patient receive daily IV of stem cells and supportive therapies as well as local stem cell injections into soft tissue and in some cases intra-articular.

How fast does stem cell therapy work for neck pain?

The role of stem cells is to quench the surrounding inflammation, repair the damage causing nerve aggravation and turn the tissue back to a healthier state where it can self-regulate and self-repair in the long run. This natural healing process requires time. The longer the chronic neck pain has been around the longer it may take for the healing response. In addition, the cause of the neck pain determines the speed of recovery. If the cause is systemic, the whole body needs re-calibration and repair. Pain relief is often experienced in the first week of stem cell treatment but the long-term benefits of stem cell treatment for intractable pain always takes time.

What are the risks to stem cell therapy?

Pluripotent embryonic stem cells are safe when administered by trained medical staff and sourced from a high-caliber reputable laboratory. Our clinic has seen no serious adverse events in over a decade of pluripotent stem cell therapy.

The only potential risks during administration of IVs we have found in over 15 years of clinical experience is mild hypoglycemia upon administration. The stem cells use glucose for their physiological activity. We mitigate this risk by making sure patients have had a meal before injection and are well hydrated.

Are there any contraindications to stem cell therapy?

The one contraindication to pluripotent stem cell therapy is immunosuppression. Patients at risk are those that have had organ transplants and are on immunosuppressive medication.