Gonna preface this by stating I'm no where near an "elite athlete" or have infinite money to throw at my pain.
I do have DECENT health insurance (by US standards) and I've been in pain since 2022, so over time, I'm sure I've thrown a decent chunk of money at this problem (I would rather not think about how much exactly bc it's depressing.)
I've tried just about everything you can possibly think of.
I did contact a clinic in town here about PRP/stem cells initially for my hip labral tear which I believe contributed to my eventual back injury that occurred the same year.
This clinic (Bluetail) is specifically working with the FDA to try to get insurance to start covering these procedures.
And even THEY told me they would not advise getting either stem cell or PRP for my back. They indicated it might work better for my hip.
Fast forward about a year after my injury, I finally saw a very well respected hip preservationist surgeon at Washington University in St. Louis about it and she basically told me not to bother with any stem cell procedures. She indicated that the "type of stem cells needed to make an actual difference would be illegal to administer in the US." I'm paraphrasing here a bit bc it's been ages since I've seen her but that's the gist.
Since insurance doesn't cover it, I figured it would be a very expensive gamble.
Instead of this procedure, I opted for Intracept procedure bc I was able to get my insurance company to approve it. Without insurance, it costs $45,000, roughly.
It's been since January 21, 2026 that I had it. I just traveled over 4 hours on a plane last week and my back did really well, so maybe the surgery is helping me.
Also a coworker of mine has had both PRP and stem cells on his bad knee and neither of them helped so he basically just lit like $14k on fire. Ugh. I've heard some ppl say they work. I'm starting to wonder if it's just a placebo effect though.
I had a post surgical MRI that confirmed my BVNs were fully ablated post op from Intracept so at least I know my surgeon was effective at killing those nerves that live inside my L5-S1 bones that are responsible for carrying discogenic pain signals to the brain.
Anyway I just wanted to share my perspective as someone dealing with this crap since 2022. I also worked with some of the very best PTs including Aaron Horschig (Squat University) and a guy at the Central Institute for Human Performance (McGill certified clinic.) have also communicated with Stuart McGill directly over email. I thought about saving up some money to go see him in person for an eval but I'm waiting to see if Intracept helps first.
My diagnosis is DDD at L5-S1, multi level lumbar facet arthropathy, disc herniation and annular tear of L5-S1, right moderate foraminal stenosis, left mild foraminal stenosis, modic type I changes, slight retrolisthesis, and a few disc bulges at other levels that are more minor. Plus L hip tear, hip dysplasia, impingement, B/L acetabular retroversion, and persistent bone marrow edema of the right SI joint which may be nr-AxSpA.
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u/CapitalElk1169
I was just approved for PRP/Stem cells here in Canada
Will only cost me about $1000 CAD
I looked into it in USA first and was looking at $15k USD until I found out it was available in Canada as well...
Happening in a few weeks, I'll post about it after it happens and we'll see what the results are like....
3
u/rvega666
!remindme 1 day
2
u/Coffeejive
Really wish they would write a book or just talk freely, athketes that is. If you look at Tiger, he has had 7 surgeries, says a lot re $$$ thrown at injuries. Have various tears, stenosis, impingement, oa,etc, lordosis, cervical, lumbar, knee
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u/Eastern-Sector7173
Tiger woods hooked on oxys. That tells me a lot.
2
u/Coffeejive
Also, intracept, radio frequency ablation, have had x2 procedures with c being more effective than l, but the si absolutely kills pain wise
1
u/Kind_Swan_7124
Please look into BPC-157 and TB-500 Peptides. They will change your life.