One of the Few Clinics Worldwide Offering Intradiscal, Epidural, and Facet Joint Stem Cell Applications
Treatments By body area Knee & joints Spine, neck & back Hip Shoulder By condition Autoimmune & inflammatory Neurological Diabetes Anti-aging & vitality Every treatment uses the same Passage 3 protocol. View all treatments How it works Your journey Testimonials Pricing About The center The company The stem cells Facilities People & place Dr. Diana Reyes The team About Medellín ENES Book your consultation Message us Treatments + By body area Knee & joints Spine, neck & back Hip Shoulder By condition Autoimmune & inflammatory Neurological Diabetes Anti-aging & vitality View all treatments → How it works Your journey Testimonials Pricing About + The company The stem cells Dr. Diana Reyes The team Facilities About Medellín ENES Book your consultation Message us on WhatsApp Blog · Spine, explained Spine, explained Intradiscal, epidural, facet: where stem cells go in your spine Three different doors into the spine. What each application reaches, why the imaging guidance matters, and what the research has shown. 6 min readReviewed with the medical team of Stem Cells Colombia The 30-second version Spine pain can come from the disc, the space around the nerves, or the small joints at the back. Each has its own route: intradiscal, epidural or facet joint, placed under live X-ray guidance. Your imaging decides which route fits, and the research is promising and growing. “Stem cells for your back” sounds like one thing. It isn’t. Your spine is more like an apartment building than a single room, and pain can live on different floors: inside a disc, in the hallway where the nerves run, or in the small hinges at the back. Where the cells go should depend on where your pain comes from. Here is what the three spinal routes are, how they are done, and what you can reasonably expect from each. Which part of your spine is actually hurting? Three structures cause a lot of chronic back and neck pain: The discs, the cushions between vertebrae. When they wear or tear, they can hurt on their own and irritate nearby nerves. The epidural space, the channel around the nerve roots. Inflammation here is behind much of the burning, shooting pain of sciatica. The facet joints, pairs of small joints at the back of each level. They can develop arthritis, just like a knee. Many people have more than one of these going on. That is why a specialist reads your MRI before deciding anything. In plain wordsFacet joints the small hinges at the back of your spine that let you twist and bend. What is an intradiscal application? The needle goes into the disc itself, aiming at the inner core. It is the most direct route for pain that comes from a worn or damaged disc, and it is also the most technical, because the target is small and close to nerves. The aim is for the cells’ signals to act where the degeneration is happening, calming inflammation and supporting the tissue that is left. What about epidural and facet applications? An epidural application places the cells in the space around the nerve roots rather than inside the disc. It can reach inflammation along several levels, and it avoids puncturing the disc. A facet joint application treats the small joints at the back, much as a knee or hip application treats a larger joint. It is a natural fit when imaging and symptoms point to facet arthritis. Tip If you have had epidural or facet injections before, bring the dates and how long each one helped. That history is useful for your specialist. Why does the guidance matter so much? Think of parallel parking at night with a camera versus without one. With spinal applications, the camera is fluoroscopy, a live X-ray that shows the needle moving in real time, so the cells are placed exactly where the plan says. That is also why the setting matters. A spinal application belongs in an operating room with monitoring, under sedation, done by physicians who place needles in the spine as part of their daily work. In plain wordsFluoroscopy a live X-ray video that lets the doctor watch the needle move toward its target. Who could benefit? People who usually get a closer look include those with a herniated or bulging disc that hasn’t settled with physical therapy, sciatica linked to a disc, degenerative disc disease, or facet arthritis, especially when epidural or facet injections helped for a while and then wore off sooner each time. Your imaging and your history decide the rest. A specialist reviews your case first, so your plan is designed for you, before you travel. What can you expect afterwards? You rest at the hotel, one elevator away, with your coordinator checking on you. Improvement builds gradually and is usually expected at 4–6 months, and some people keep improving at eight months. Every body responds at its own pace, and your follow-up tracks it with you. This path keeps every other option open. What this means for you Get a recent MRI: X-rays alone rarely show disc problems. Ask which structure the specialist thinks is causing your pain, and which route that means. Send your MRI on WhatsApp for a free evaluation, with your plan and price in writing and no commitment. Where the evidence stands Lab & animal studiesFirst human studiesSeveral clinical trialsStandard of care The research is growing across the three routes. For intradiscal injections, a 2024 systematic review of randomized and observational studies rated the evidence for mesenchymal stem cells and platelet-rich plasma as fair (Level III), suggesting they may help discogenic low back pain. For epidural biologics, a 2026 review found nine randomized trials of biologic treatments, and facet and epidural use of umbilical cord cells has been described in case reports. Promising, and growing. Effectiveness of Intradiscal Regenerative Medicine Therapies for Long-Term Relief of Chronic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis · Pain Physician, 2024 A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials of Epidural Regenerative Medicine Therapies
Revolutionizing Treatment of Herniated Discs with Umbilical Cord-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Treatments By body area Knee & joints Spine, neck & back Hip Shoulder By condition Autoimmune & inflammatory Neurological Diabetes Anti-aging & vitality Every treatment uses the same Passage 3 protocol. View all treatments How it works Your journey Testimonials Pricing About The center The company The stem cells Facilities People & place Dr. Diana Reyes The team About Medellín ENES Book your consultation Message us Treatments + By body area Knee & joints Spine, neck & back Hip Shoulder By condition Autoimmune & inflammatory Neurological Diabetes Anti-aging & vitality View all treatments → How it works Your journey Testimonials Pricing About + The company The stem cells Dr. Diana Reyes The team Facilities About Medellín ENES Book your consultation Message us on WhatsApp Blog · Herniated discs Herniated discs A herniated disc that won’t settle: where stem cells fit What a herniated disc really is, why many heal on their own, and where umbilical cord stem cells fit for the ones that don’t, with what the studies show. 6 min readReviewed with the medical team of Stem Cells Colombia The 30-second version A herniated disc is a cushion whose soft center pushes through a tear and irritates a nerve. Many improve with time and physical therapy; for the ones that don’t, there are more options. Stem cells are studied to calm that inflammation. The evidence is encouraging and growing. It often starts with something ordinary: lifting a suitcase, bending for a sock, a sneeze at the wrong angle. Then comes the pain that runs down your leg, or the numbness in your fingers that makes buttoning a shirt a small project. A herniated disc is one of the most common reasons for back and neck pain. Here is what is actually happening in there, what usually helps, and where stem cell therapy fits for the discs that refuse to calm down. What is actually happening inside the disc? Picture a jelly doughnut sitting between two vertebrae. The tough outer ring holds a soft, gel-like center. When the ring tears, some of that center pushes out, a herniation, and it can press on or chemically irritate a nearby nerve root. That irritation is why the pain often shows up far from the disc: down the back of your leg (sciatica) or along your arm if the disc is in your neck. In plain wordsNucleus pulposus the soft, gel-like center of the disc, the doughnut’s filling. Why do many herniations get better on their own? Here is some good news: a lot of herniated discs improve over weeks to a few months. The body can reabsorb part of the material that pushed out, and inflammation settles. That is why the first steps are usually conservative: physical therapy, pain relief, sometimes an epidural injection. The trouble starts when it doesn’t settle. Epidurals help for a while and then wear off sooner each time, the pain keeps coming back, and someone mentions surgery. By then you have usually read more about lumbar anatomy than you ever planned to. Tip Numbness that spreads, real weakness in a leg, or any loss of bladder or bowel control needs a doctor the same day. Don’t wait on those. Where do stem cells fit? Between injections that wear off and surgery, there is a step. Mesenchymal stem cells mainly work by releasing signals, a kind of chemical conversation with the tissue around them, that may help calm chronic inflammation and support repair. In a disc, that means aiming at the inflammation irritating the nerve and at the worn tissue itself. Stem Cells Colombia uses only cells from Wharton’s jelly, the soft tissue of the umbilical cord. They are placed under live X-ray guidance, into the disc, the space around the nerve, or the small joints at the back, depending on your MRI. What does the evidence say so far? Encouraging, and still growing. A 2026 meta-analysis of seven randomized trials found that intradiscal stem cell injections were linked to improvements in pain and function compared with placebo, with no increase in side effects. Studies using umbilical cord cells specifically are smaller: a two-patient report from 2014, and a 2023 observational series of 33 patients with meaningful pain reduction at two years and no adverse reactions. Encouraging results that keep building. MythStem cells push the disc back into place. Reality: The aim is to calm inflammation and support your body’s own repair, a gradual kind of help. Who could benefit? People who usually get a closer look: a herniated or bulging disc with pain that has lasted despite physical therapy, sciatica linked to a disc, or injections that no longer hold. A specialist reviews your MRI first, so your plan is designed for your spine. A recent MRI is the key document. X-rays alone rarely show disc problems. What this means for you If your herniation is recent, give conservative care a fair chance first; many improve. If pain keeps returning after injections, send your MRI for a specialist’s opinion. Send your MRI on WhatsApp for a free evaluation; improvement is usually expected at 4–6 months, and your plan and price come in writing, with no commitment. Where the evidence stands Lab & animal studiesFirst human studiesSeveral clinical trialsStandard of care Several randomized trials now exist for injecting mesenchymal stem cells into painful degenerated discs, and a 2026 meta-analysis of seven of them reports benefits in pain and disability with a safety profile similar to placebo. Evidence with umbilical cord cells, from reports and observational series, has shown lasting pain reduction. Most trials looked at degenerated discs in general, the same process behind many herniations. Intradiscal mesenchymal stem cell therapy for degenerative disc disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials · Asian Spine Journal, 2026 Pain Relief After Allogenic Stem Cell Disc Therapy · Pain Physician, 2023 Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for the treatment of chronic discogenic low back pain · Pain Physician, 2014 Bring your case How the doctors do it in