ArticlePain medicine (Malden, Mass.)2021
Innervation of the Human Intervertebral Disc: A Scoping Review.
Article in Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 41 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
41 citing papers in PubMed, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
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- External bipolar thermal annuloplasty as an adjunct to lumbar microdiscectomy for Carragee Type I and III annular defects: A matched cohort study.Brain & spine · 2026Article
- Neuroregulatory Biomaterials for Intervertebral Disc Regeneration via Neuro-Disc Microenvironment Modulation.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2026Review
- Blood and lymphatic vascular remodeling in intervertebral disc degeneration.Frontiers in immunology · 2026Review
- Core Acupoints and Acupoint Combination Patterns for Acupuncture Treatment of Discogenic Low Back Pain: A Data Mining Study.Journal of pain research · 2026Article
- Degenerative Disease of Intervertebral Disc: A Narrative Review of Pathogenesis, Clinical Implications and Therapies.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Review
- What a pain in the back: etiology, diagnosis and future treatment directions for discogenic low back pain.Bone research · 2025Review
- Autoantibodies against Components of Sensory Nerve Formations in the Intervertebral Disks and Adjacent Structures are Antigens Recognized by the Sera from Patients Affected by a New Variant of Endemic Pemphigus in El Bagre, Colombia.Dermatology practical & conceptual · 2025Article
- 14. Discogenic Low Back Pain.Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain · 2025Review
- A Conceptual Review of Naturally Occurring Toxins and Venoms as Peptide Blockers to Combat Chronic Low Back Pain.JOR spine · 2025Review
- Chronic Low Back Pain in Young Adults: Pathophysiological Aspects of Neuroinflammation and Degeneration.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Regenerative strategies for intervertebral disc degeneration.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2025Review
- Role of macrophage in intervertebral disc degeneration.Bone research · 2025Review
- A Primer on Anatomy, Biophysics, Pathology, Imaging and Treatment of the Intervertebral Disc and the Anterior Spinal Column: The Discogenic, Intervertebral, Spinal Column (DISC) ASPN Workgroup.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Review
- Plain Radiography: A Unique Component of Spinal Assessment and Predictive Health.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveBack pain is an elusive symptom complicated by a variety of possible causes, precipitating and maintaining factors, and consequences. Notably, the underlying pathology remains unknown in a significant number of cases. Changes to the intervertebral disc (IVD) have been associated with back pain, leading many to postulate that the IVD may be a direct source of pain, typically referred to as discogenic back pain. Yet despite decades of research into the neuroanatomy of the IVD, there is a lack of consensus in the literature as to the distribution and function of neural elements within the tissue. The current scoping review provides a comprehensive systematic overview of studies that document the topography, morphology, and immunoreactivity of neural elements within the IVD in humans.
methodArticles were retrieved from six separate databases in a three-step systematic search and were independently evaluated by two reviewers.
resultsThree categories of neural elements were described within the IVD: perivascular nerves, sensory nerves independent of blood vessels, and mechanoreceptors. Nerves were consistently localized within the outer layers of the annulus fibrosus. Neural ingrowth into the inner annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus was found to occur only in degenerative and disease states.
conclusionWhile the pattern of innervation within the IVD is clear, the specific topographic arrangement and function of neural elements in the context of back pain remains unclear.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.