4 Spinal Health Benefits of the Discseel® Procedure 

Herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, sciatica  — these are issues that have two things in common: 1) They can all lead to no small amount of neck and back pain; and 2) They involve damaged intervertebral discs in your spine.

Lower back pain, alone, has a lifetime prevalence of 60% to 80% and disc issues account for a significant percentage of this overall problem. And the same holds true for neck pain.

If a damaged disc is causing you problems, we want to call your attention to an innovative — and nonsurgical — solution called Discseel®. At Apex Pain Specialists, Dr. Naveen Reddy and Dr. Maziar Massrour pride themselves on offering exceptional back and neck pain solutions that are long on results and short on risk, and Discseel certainly fits the bill.

First, a quick world about disc issues

Before we dive into the incredible benefits of Discseel in resolving common disc issues, let’s quickly review what we’re up against. 

The 23 intervertebral discs in your spine are hard workers — they offer support, cushioning, and act as spacers between your 33 vertebrae. To accomplish all of this, each disc features a tough outer layer called the annulus, which houses a jelly-like substance on the inside.

Most disc issues occur when there's a tear or rupture in the annulus, which allows some of the substance inside to leak out and irritate surrounding nerve roots. This nerve compression is what leads to the local and radiating pain that’s common with damaged discs.

Now that we better understand the challenge, here’s how Discseel answers the call.

1. Evaluation and repair in one procedure

If annular tears in one or more of your discs are at the root of your discomfort, we can locate and repair this damage with Discseel.

The first step of Discseel is the annulogram, a technique that we use to locate tears in your discs. To do this, we inject a contrasting dye into the disc and use advanced imaging to locate the areas where there’s damage. At the same time as we locate the tears, we repair them.

2. Discseel heals and repairs the disc naturally

We referenced repairing your discs with Discseel and we want to expand on this. The active ingredient in Discseel is a biologic sealant called fibrin, which is a combination of prothrombin and fibrinogen.

Fibrin is a protein that plays an important role in healing, and we use it to form a mesh or seal over damaged areas in your discs. Your discs readily accept the fibrin since the protein already exists in your body.

3. Avoid surgery with Discseel

One of the biggest benefits of the Discseel procedure is that you can avoid painful and risky spine surgery. 

During the Discseel procedure, we inject the fibrin using needles only, which makes the approach far less invasive than spine surgery.

Not to mention, with Discseel, we can avoid failed back surgery, which is no small threat — more than half of spine surgeries are successful, but the balance are not.

4. Fast recovery with Discseel

Not only is spine surgery often risky and uncomfortable, the recovery is fairly substantial. With Discseel, you can be moving 30 minutes after your procedure and make your way home (no overnight stay!).

During the following days, you can regain full movement incrementally — about 10% each day. In no time at all, you’ll be back to full function, though we may have you avoid strenuous activities and lifting for a while longer.

If you’d like to learn more about Discseel and whether it’s a good solution for your back or neck issues, we invite you to call our office in Chandler, Arizona, at 480-820-7246 or book an appointment online with Apex Pain Specialists today.