Spinal Cord Injury

If you or someone you love is living with a spinal cord injury, one question is likely never far away: Is there anything more that could help?

That question is driving a growing field of research into whether regenerative medicine may help protect nerve cells, reduce damaging inflammation, and create an environment that supports neurological recovery.

A spinal cord injury can change nearly every part of life—movement, sensation, strength, independence, bladder and bowel function, and the ability to do the things you once took for granted.

For years, treatment has focused primarily on stabilization, rehabilitation, and helping the body adapt to permanent neurological injury.

But researchers are now learning if regenerative medicine can help the injured spinal cord do more than simply compensate for the damage.

The Research Is More Encouraging Than Many People Realize.

Researchers around the world are investigating mesenchymal stem cells and other regenerative approaches for spinal cord injury, including how they may influence inflammation, protect existing nerve cells, support nerve-fiber repair, and create an environment more favorable to recovery.

And there is now meaningful human research to examine.

A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis of 30 human studies involving 656 patients found that 43% of patients experienced improvement in ASIA grade, nearly half showed improvement in motor function, and nearly three-quarters showed improvement in sensory function following stem-cell therapy. The authors emphasized that larger, higher-quality studies are still needed.

A Mayo Clinic Phase I clinical trial provides another intriguing glimpse. In 10 people with traumatic spinal cord injury, seven demonstrated improvement of at least one level on the ASIA impairment scale following treatment with their own adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells. No serious adverse events were reported. Mayo describes the findings as evidence of safety and potential benefit—not proof of effectiveness—and larger controlled trials are underway.

Even earlier meta-analysis of 18 studies involving 949 patients found significant improvements in ASIA motor and sensory scores, ASIA grade, and activities of daily living compared with rehabilitation alone.These findings do not mean regenerative medicine can reverse a spinal cord injury. But they do mean that the research has moved far enough that someone living with an SCI deserves to know what is being discovered.

Don't Miss the Research That Could Change How You Think About What's Possible.

We have gathered selected spinal cord injury research—including human clinical studies, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and research exploring the mechanisms behind neurological recovery.

Request the complimentary research collection and we'll email you the studies, brief summaries of what researchers found, and links to the original publications.

Read the research yourself. See what has been demonstrated, what remains experimental, and what questions are still unanswered.

You don't have to assume regenerative medicine is the answer. But with so much at stake, shouldn't you know what researchers are investigating before deciding what may—or may not—be possible?

→ Request the Complimentary Spinal Cord Injury Research Collection