Treatment Case Studies
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Column Treatment Case Report No. 216| ILC International Lumbago Clinic (Tokyo Clinic)

September 3, 2025

The patient

Patient: Male, 30s

The patient’s medical history to date

The patient’s low back pain symptoms started in late 2024.

Although he had experienced low back pain before, this time the symptoms also began to affect his lower extremities.

He visited a nearby orthopedic clinic, where he received nerve blocks and medication, but his symptoms didn’t improve.

He then came to our clinic for symptom relief.

Symptoms before treatment

・Pain levels before treatment

Lower backLower limbsNumbnessButtocks
Pain level8640

No pain at all is rated as 0, and the maximum possible pain is rated as 10.

Main Areas of Pain: Lower back, right buttock

Physical Examination:

Forward Bending: No change

Backward Bending: No change

Straight Leg Raise (Lasègue’s Test): Positive at a 50 degree angle on the left side

Tenderness to Palpation: None

Intermittent Claudication: Negative

Additional explanations on our clinic’s medical examination

・Daily activities

Symptoms tend to aggravate when standing up and sitting down.

Imaging and findings

  • L4/5: disc herniation
  • L4/5: disc degeneration

The above findings were also observed on the imaging.

・A herniated disc was found on the left side at L4/5, but the main symptoms were in the right lower extremity, which did not align with the imaging.

Since the findings were highly likely to be the cause of the patient’s low back symptoms, PODD was recommended as the first choice of treatment over the Cellgel Method.

Treatment

After consulting with the patient, the PODD Method was performed on the L4/5 level.

The treatment was performed by Dr. Kono.

The procedure involved inserting a needle into the intervertebral disc and then injecting ozone.

The treatment took approximately 10 minutes.

After resting in the recovery room, the patient was able to walk home unaided.

Our clinic’s treatment method

Here is additional information about the PODD method introduced in this article:

Cost of PODD: ¥330,000 (tax included) per location to ¥550,000 (tax included) for up to 5 locations.

Cost for this Patient’s Case: PODD 1 location = ¥330,000 (tax included).

PODD Risks/Side Effects: Temporary pain may occur after treatment. Although the possibility of nerve damage is not nil due to the very nature of the treatment, there have been no reports of such damage in our own cases or in published papers.

There is an extremely small possibility of an allergic reaction to the local anesthetic. Additionally, treatment may not be possible in cases where the disc is severely degenerated or has become almost non-existent.

During your consultation, we will work with you to choose the most suitable treatment method based on your condition.

For more detailed information, please refer to the link below:

PODD method page of our treatment method

This article was written by the Administrative Director of our clinic