PRP injections for lumbar issues

@pita12345 You're asking a question that might bring out a lot of opinions.

First, let's define PRP which is Platelet-Rich Plasma that comes from centrifuging a patient's blood to collect the platelets. Platelets are cells that are involved in clotting blood, but also have growth factors that aide in healing. How much healing and in what kind of tissue is the question and it is being researched.

As patients, we hope for some kind of magic so we can avoid spine surgery. There is a lot of hype about stem cells and spine doctors are injecting them even though it isn't always clear if they will benefit the patient or not. This research Blog from Mayo Clinic states that spinal discs do not have a blood supply and cannot heal themselves.

Regarding a damaged or drying disc, the blog states:
"We believe mesenchymal stem cells decrease the loss of water molecules from the injured spinal disk by controlling the inflammatory process in the disk. If you have less inflammation, you should have less pain," says Dr. Qu. "Mesenchymal stem cells provide growth factors and tissue regeneration that stimulate production of healthy disk cells."

Stenosis can be caused by excess bone growth as in spurs, enlarged or ruptured discs, or an enlarged ligament at the back of the spine. Scoliosis is complex and can be a developmental problem beginning in childhood or happen in the elderly due to spine compression fractures.

At Mayo, Dr. Bydon is researching stem cells for spinal cord injuries and healing the spinal cord, and has had some success, but not for every patient. Please see this link:

It seems to me that the applications for injecting stem cells are very specific, and this isn't a fix for most spine conditions at this time. Research is still going on. There are doctors making claims, and lots of money doing spine stem cell injections. I had spoken to my podiatrist who does stem cell injections that come from the placenta tissue and he said that these injections can benefit by cleaning up ligaments and tendons in joints, but it does not fix damaged cartilage or bone, and that it may take awhile to see improvement. He said insurance stopped paying for this because many doctors were using this to make money by charging 2 to 3 thousand dollars per injection, and it wasn't really necessary. He does these injections, but doesn't increase the price of the stem cells that he gets from a company that manufactures this. I think I remember that it was about $600 in price from the company. I realize that PRP comes from the blood of the patient, but I wanted to offer a comparison for medical practices. Your question cast a pretty broad net in looking for the promise from stem cells in spine conditions. I was hoping for this too when I became a spine patient because it sure sounded better than spine surgery for my compressed spinal cord, but stem cells were not going to fix that; only surgery could help me free my spinal cord. As a patient you have to look for trusted sources of information and medical professionals who are honest about their capabilities and what is possible in this day and age of spine care. That is always changing with new ideas and interventions that are tested in clinical trials and added to the standard of care. Insurance companies and Medicare also want to know that they are paying for something that works, and often will not pay for something that is experimental.

My daughter has benefited miraculously from PRP, more than once, but it is not helpful for anything involving bone, only soft tissue, we were told by the doc. It served to tighten things up in my daughter's case (she has loose joints).

@jenniferhunter I thought PRP and stem cell injections were different things.

I have been searching unsuccessfully for a clinic or doctor that can provide placenta-derived stem cells to treat my spinal stenosis condition. Can I ask where and with whom you were able to receive this treatment? Thank you!

Not sure what prp is. I've had cortisone shots. I also had a type of lidocaine shot in lumber. It was a 6 shot sequence that did nothing. I've had good results from cortisone shots in my neck.

I have not had this done. I have read pros and cons for both PRP and stem cells, so I was interested to know if anyone had PRP injections for spinal issues.

From what I have read, PRP and stem cells do differ.

PRP is concentrated platelets (your own).

I had mesenchymal stem cells, harvested from my hip, injected by my trusted, long term, pain management doctor, after an accident that seriously injured the nerves around my extremely curved, inoperable spine. It was a long healing time, but procedure was successful! Expensive.
About 6 months after I was really up and about, we realized there was a second location that was a problem. After deciding to do the procedure again, my doctor said that it had been determined ( by the government?) that more research has to be done and he could no longer do the same procedure. However, PRP was still allowed, and I decided to try that. Much less expensive, but as I am older, my blood stem cells were not as prolific as my bones.
There was some help, not as dramatic as the first procedure, so I would recommend trying it. However, do lots of research on using donor PRP, as there could be numerous issues that could go from ineffective to harmful.
Using your own blood for this is easy, just a blood draw from your arm.