Jason Ford

Hydrogel injections could ease lower back pain

News

Chronic lower back pain could eventually be treated with hydrogel injections that restore the shock-absorbing properties of damaged intervertebral discs.

Researchers at Sheffield Hallam University have developed a unique hydrogel delivery system that contains stem cells and chemical factors that may combat degeneration and promote growth of damaged intervertebral discs.

Lower back pain affects approximately 80 per cent of the population at some point in their lives, incurring a cost of billions to the NHS and the wider economy through sick days.

Project leader Dr Christine Le Maitre said: ‘One of the main causes of low back pain is the close proximity of the nerve root to a lot of moveable structures — when you move, you bend, you flex; all of that is made possible because throughout your spine you have these intervertebral discs, which basically act as shock absorbers allowing all the stresses and strains to be dissipated though the spine.’

Around 40 per cent of cases of lower back pain are caused by degradation of the intervertebral discs, which are composed of a flexible matrix of proteoglycans and collagens, dispersed with maintenance cells.

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