Low back pain (LBP) is a common clinical problem and a major cause of physical disability, imposing a prominent socioeconomic burden. Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) has been considered the main cause of LBP. The current treatments have limited efficacy because they cannot address the underlying degeneration. With an increased understanding of the complex pathological mechanism of IDD, various medications and biological reagents have been used for intradiscal injection for the treatment of LBP. There is increasing clinical evidence showing the benefits of these therapies on symptomatic relief and their potential for disc repair and regeneration by targeting the disrupted pathways underlying the cause of the disease. A brief overview of the potential and limitations for these therapies are provided in this review, based on the recent and available data from clinical trials and systematic reviews.Finally, future perspectives are discussed.intervertebral disc degeneration, intradiscal injection, low back pain
| INTRODUCTIONLow back pain (LBP) is a common symptom that occurs below the costal margin and above the inferior gluteal fold, which refers to pain, muscle tension, or stiffness. The global prevalence of LBP in 2017 was 7.83%, and 577 million people were affected at any time. 1 In 2019, a systematic review of 13 studies from northern Europe, North America, and Israel reported that the prevalence of LBP ranged between 14% and 20%. 2 A systematic review and meta-analysis revealed that the lifetime prevalence of LBP was 47% in low-, lower-Fu Zhang and Songjuan Wang (shared first authorship) and Zhiyu Zhou and Shaoyu Liu (shared last authorship) contributed equally to this study.