5 The Mechanisms of Pain from Intervertebral Discs Todd F. Alamin and Vijay Agarwal Any therapeutic endeavor relies on an understanding of the mechanism by which the pain is produced….

8 Clinical Features of Herniated Nucleus Pulposus Stewart M. Kerr, Deepan N. Patel and Alexander R. Vaccaro Intervertebral discs (IVDs) provide for a segmental arrangement to the spinal column which…

20 Biologic Therapies for Disc Repair Corey A. Pacek, Gwendolyn A. Sowa, Nam Vo, and James D. Kang The lumbar intervertebral disc (IVD) is the most common site of degenerative…

11 Decompressive Surgery for Herniated Nucleus Pulposus (Open, Micro, and Minimally Invasive Approaches) Christian M. DuBois, Frank M. Phillips and Kevin T. Foley Surgery to treat a symptomatic herniated nucleus…

28 Spinal Fusion: Combined Anteroposterior Approach Richard D. Guyer and Thomas F. Roush Despite recent biologic advancements such as improved osteoconductive and particularly osteoinductive materials and proteins, achieving a successful…

21 Intradiscal Therapy Steven Helper and Curtis W. Slipman The term “internal disc disruption” syndrome (IDDS) was coined by Crock1,2 to identify the syndrome of low back pain (LBP) and…

17 Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy Ronald Donelson Selecting the appropriate nonoperative treatment for low back pain (LBP), with or without sciatica, or selecting appropriate patients for lumbar disc surgery are…

13 Clinical Presentation of Disc Degeneration Andrew P. White, Eric L. Grossman and Alan S. Hilibrand The intervertebral disc (IVD) is a vital and dynamic component of spinal architecture (Fig….

6 The Biology and Biomechanics of the Spinal Degenerative Cascade Kern Singh, Daniel K. Park and Frank M. Phillips More than 25 years ago, Kirkaldy-Willis et al presented the concept…

22 Nucleus Augmentation Thomas J. Raley, Qi-Bin Bao and Hansen A. Yuan Low back pain (LBP) is a common condition that affects the majority of the population1,2 and economically impacts…