A New One-Time Option for Chronic Low Back Pain
If you’ve lived with low back pain for months, you already know how much it can take over your life. The Intracept Procedure offers a new path forward. It’s a one-time, minimally invasive treatment designed to target one specific, often-overlooked source of chronic back pain. Because it’s drug-free and implant-free, many patients see it as a middle ground between conservative care and open spine surgery. Both CMC Orthopaedics and CMC Pain Management now offer this treatment, giving patients across the Grand Strand more ways to find relief.
What Is Vertebrogenic Pain?
Not all back pain comes from the same place. Vertebrogenic pain is a specific type of chronic low back pain that starts inside the vertebrae themselves, not in the discs or muscles. It happens when the endplates — the bony surfaces between your vertebrae and spinal discs — become damaged or inflamed. That damage can irritate a nerve called the basivertebral nerve, which then sends ongoing pain signals to the brain.
This type of pain often doesn’t respond well to typical treatments like physical therapy or standard injections, since those approaches don’t address the nerve itself. That’s where Intracept comes in.
How the Intracept Procedure Works
The Intracept Procedure uses heat, not medication or implants, to stop pain signals at their source. Here’s what to expect:
- Getting to the nerve: Your doctor makes a small incision and uses guided imaging to reach the basivertebral nerve inside the vertebra.
- Treating the nerve: Radiofrequency energy heats the nerve for several minutes, stopping its ability to send pain signals.
- Closing up: Your doctor removes the tools and closes the small incision. No hardware or implants are left behind.
The full procedure typically takes 60 to 90 minutes and is done on an outpatient basis, so you go home the same day.
What Recovery Looks Like
Most patients rest for about 48 hours and can return to light activity within a few days. Some people notice pain relief within two weeks, and improvement often continues for up to three months. Because the nerve doesn’t grow back after treatment, results tend to last — many patients still feel meaningful relief five years later.
Is Intracept Right for You?
Intracept is generally considered for patients who:
- Have had chronic low back pain for six months or longer
- Have already tried conservative treatments like physical therapy or medication without lasting relief
- Have MRI findings that show damage to the vertebral endplates (called Modic changes)
Not every patient with these symptoms is a candidate. Your provider will review your imaging and health history to determine whether Intracept is the right fit.
Two CMC Providers, One Advanced Treatment
CMC is proud to offer the Intracept Procedure through two experienced pain specialists, so patients have options for where and with whom they receive care.
Dr. Simone Maybin
CMC Orthopaedics
Conway | Socastee
Dr. Maybin is a Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician with fellowship training in Interventional Spine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She treats acute and chronic pain throughout the spine, extremities, and face and jaw, using a full range of non-surgical techniques.
Learn more about Dr. Maybin and CMC Orthopaedics’ Pain Management program →
Dr. Farayi Mbuvah
CMC Pain Management
Myrtle Beach
Dr. Mbuvah brings experience in internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pain medicine to his practice at CMC Pain Management in Myrtle Beach. He focuses on non-opioid therapies and offers a wide range of advanced, FDA-approved treatments for chronic pain.
Convenient Locations in Myrtle Beach and Conway
Patients in the Grand Strand now have two places to turn for this treatment: a
- CMC Orthopaedics in Conway and Socastee
- CMC Pain Management in Myrtle Beach.
Whichever provider you see, the goal is the same: getting you back to the life chronic pain has interrupted.
Risk and Safety Information: All surgical procedures carry risks. Discuss all potential benefits and risks with your physician. Individual results may vary. For complete safety information, visit https://www.intracept.com/recovery-relief-safety/intracept-procedure-safety.html.
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References
* Fischgrund JS, Rhyne A, Macadaeg K, et al. Long-term outcomes following intraosseous basivertebral nerve ablation for the treatment of chronic low back pain: 5-year treatment arm results from a prospective randomized double-blind sham-controlled multi-center study. Eur Spine J. 2020;29:1925-1934.
** Data on file. For more information, visit https://www.intracept.com/home.html