Low Back Pain: Additive Manufacturing for Disc Degeneration and Herniation Repair

Abstract

Low back pain is believed to affect 80% of the world’s population at some point in their lifetime. In the UK alone, it is one of the main causes of work absenteeism and decreased quality of life. Degenerative disc disease and intervertebral disc (IVD) herniation (i.e., “slipped disc”) are the main causes of low back pain and sciatica. Discectomy and microdiscectomy, two of the most commonly used surgical procedures, aim to remove the tissue exerting pressure on the nerves and thus relieve the pain. However, this is only a temporary solution as damage to the IVD is not repaired and may require additional surgical interventions. While this procedure is less aggressive in comparison to spinal disc arthroplasty and fusion, microdiscectomy still requires a down-time of 1-4 weeks post-surgery. Emerging treatments for IVD repair aim to address these concerns, novel NP and AF repair strategies are being developed based on novel additive manufacturing techniques.