The majority of back pain is a biological and chemical problem associated with annular tears in spinal discs.

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The DISCSEEL Procedure

The DISCSEEL Procedure is a promising option for treating a variety of pain conditions linked to disc damage, particularly for patients with degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, or chronic pain that has not responded to conservative treatments. Its ability to repair annular tears and promote disc regeneration provides a minimally invasive solution with the potential for long-term pain relief and improved quality of life.

The DISCSEEL® Procedure uses Fibrin, an FDA-approved substance that is used off-label in this procedure, to seal torn tissues in the disc. Fibrin is injected into disc tears, typically taking less than an hour. You’ll be walking the same day. The disc continues healing over 3-12 months as you increase your activity.

Conditions Commonly Treated by The DISCSEEL Procedure

What is Leaky Disc Syndrome

The majority of back pain is a biological problem associated with annular tears and fissures in your discs. This is called Leaky Disc Syndrome.

Leaky Disc Syndrome is a term coined by Dr. Kevin Pauza, inventor of the DISCSEEL® Procedure, to help patients understand that leaking caused by annular tears is the most common cause of pain and symptoms in the lower back, leg, neck, and arm.

Many patients are told that a compressed nerve caused by a slipped, bulging, or herniated disc is the source of their symptoms. While this is true in some cases, Dr. Pauza’s research and experience have shown him that most pain and numbness experienced in the extremities is caused by annular tears that have progressed into herniated, slipped, or bulging discs.

How Does a Spinal Disc Become Leaky?

Over time, as a result of normal wear and tear, the annulus fibrosus develops tears, which we know as annular tears. If they are large enough, these annular tears allow the nucleus pulposus to leak out of the disc. Our bodies then perceive the leaking nucleus pulposus as a foreign substance and react with inflammation and irritation of surrounding nerves. This causes the nerves to send out pain signals, and depending on the areas of the body the nerves reach, painful symptoms are felt in the arms, hands, legs, or even feet.

How to Treat Leaky Disc Syndrome?

The only way to treat Leaky Disc Syndrome is to treat the annular tears that cause it. The Annulargram is the most precise way to identify annular tears in spinal discs.

The Annulargram is a pain-free test performed during the DISCSEEL Procedure that identifies even the most subtle tears in spinal discs that MRI or discography can’t. We test every disc in the region, allowing our team to be proactive in addressing small tears before they lead to large herniations, degeneration, and other painful conditions.

Nucleus pulposus leaking onto the spinal nerve. The majority of back pain is a biological problem associated with annular tears and fissures in your discs. This is called Leaky Disc Syndrome.

When spinal discs develop annular tears, these tears can progress to herniated discs, thinning discs, bulging discs, and degenerative discs, and these issues all lead to chronic low back pain.

Annular Tears

When spinal discs develop annular tears, these tears can progress to herniated discs, thinning discs, bulging discs, and degenerative discs, and these issues all lead to chronic low back pain.

Over time (from daily activities, age, or injuries), your disc (the outer ring area) can become torn. This causes weakness in the disc. As these tears progress, the inner gel-like substance from the nucleus pulposus can leak out onto adjacent spinal nerves. Your body assumes this leakage is a “foreign substance” and goes into an immune response. Creating pain and inflammation.

Lower back problems including degenerative disc disease, herniated disc (also called slipped, ruptured, or bulging disc), sciatica, and others are the result of annular tears.

Does your pain move around? Meaning sometimes you feel it on the left, then on the right, or in the center of your lower back. You could have multiple tears in different discs.

How to Treat Annular Tears?

Annular tears and fissures can’t repair themselves. When left untreated, they could progress to other conditions like a herniated disc, bulging disc, or ruptured disc. Traditional back surgery and suturing (stitches) cannot repair a tear.

The solution is to SEAL the annular tears. This is precisely what the DISCSEEL Procedure does.

After treating thousands of patients for whom other therapies had failed, Dr. Kevin Pauza pioneered the DISCSEEL Procedure. This all-natural approach to healing annular tears utilizes Fibrin, an FDA-approved biologic, to repair annular tears and promote the healing and growth of healthy tissue.

Degenerative Disc Disease

As we age, spinal discs obtain wear and tear that can lead to annular tears. These tears may cause disc desiccation (dehydration), leaving the spinal discs thin and unable to cushion the vertebrae. Degenerative disc disease can lead to other spine conditions as well, but annular tears are the underlying cause of degenerative disc disease and its symptoms.

What Causes Degenerative Disc Disease?

It is a normal part of our aging process to develop degenerative spinal discs. However, this condition goes unnoticed in some people, it causes painful and debilitating symptoms in others that can affect their quality of life. There are also a variety of symptoms associated with this condition because the spine is surrounded by nerves that serve various parts of the body. This is why degenerative disc pain is not only felt in the back but can also cause headaches, arm, and leg pain, depending on where the damaged discs are located.

How to Treat Degenerative Disc Disease?

Treatment for chronic back pain varies depending on its cause. Conservative treatments include physical therapy, pain management medications, and lifestyle changes like exercise or posture correction. In cases where these options don’t provide relief, minimally invasive procedures such as the Discseel® Procedure

Chronic Lower Back Pain

Pain is considered chronic when it lasts beyond six months. Pain occurring for less than six months is considered acute pain. Six months is the dividing line because 90% of low back pain resolves on its own before six months. The 10% of people who continue suffering beyond six months have chronic back pain and are unlikely to get better on their own. Unfortunately, no study shows that it’s permanently corrected with epidurals, physical therapy, chiropractic manipulation, or any other treatment unless the underlying cause is healed. Today, it’s known that annular tears are the underlying cause of most non-traumatic spine problems

What Causes Chronic Back Pain?

Chronic back pain is often caused by a range of factors, including degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, muscle strain. Over time, the discs in the spine can weaken, leading to tears, bulging, or compression of nearby nerves, resulting in persistent pain. Injury, poor posture, and repetitive stress on the spine also contribute to the development of chronic pain. In some cases, pain can persist even after the original injury heals, becoming a long-term condition that affects daily life.

How to Treat Chronic Back Pain?

Sciatica

When spinal discs leak as a result of these tears, inflammation of adjacent spinal nerves leads to sciatic nerve pain

When spinal discs leak as a result of these tears,
inflammation of adjacent spinal nerves leads to sciatic nerve pain

The sciatic nerve runs down the back of the buttocks, leg, and foot. It’s the merger of the 3 bottom nerve roots (L4, L5, and S1). It’s also important to know that pinched nerves don’t cause sciatica pain. This pain is actually caused by inflammation of the nerve roots as a result of leaky discs. Inflammation occurs because the nucleus pulposus is perceived as a foreign substance by the human body when it leaks through annular tears and onto nerve roots. The leaked gel, like all foreign substances, causes inflammation that attacks nerve roots. It beats and damages nerves so much that it is referred to as “Battered Root Syndrome” by many scientific papers.

What Causes Sciatic Pain?

Unlike what most people have been led to believe, sciatica is often not caused by a physically pinched nerve, but by irritation of the sciatic nerve root caused by nucleus pulposus gel leaking out of the spinal disc.

Sciatica can be a debilitating indication, but it is usually secondary to other issues. These could be many different reasons, but the main issues that lead to sciatic pain include a lumbar herniated disc, degenerative disc disease, lumbar spinal stenosis, isthmus spondylolisthesis, piriformis syndrome, and sacroiliac joint dysfunction. Other causes such as pregnancy, tumor, or infection are less common. If left untreated, whatever is causing this condition can worsen, leading to complications that can become even more serious.