Many people suffer the debilitating effects of lower back pain.  Relief could prove to be a shot away.

  Brian Mikesell's nagging low back pain almost had him down for the count.

  "There were days that I'd get out of my truck coming home from work and I'd literally climb up the stairs to get home," he said.

  His doctor said he had degenerative disk disease that might require surgery. But as luck would have it, Mikesell was a perfect candidate for a non-surgical, experimental treatment.

  "When he offered this to me, I was more than happy to be a volunteer; absolutely!" said Mikesell.

  "What we've been looking at is this protein called OP1. It's called osteogenic protein one," said Dr. Jeff Fischgrund, an orthopedic spine surgeon in Southfield, Mich..

  Fischgrund is studying OP1 to see if it can stimulate the growth of new spinal disk tissue.

  "So our goal is to try to inject this liquid protein into these unhealthy disks and actually grow new cartilage, which is a revolutionary treatment compared to the standard treatments of taking the whole disk out and either fusing or putting in a disc replacement," the doctor said.

  Doctors place the needle into the disk and inject less than a teaspoonful of the protein. The procedure takes about a minute.

  "The patients, we usually watch for two or three hours just to make sure there's no reactions and then they're free to go home and resume their normal activities, usually within 24 to 48 hours," said Fischgrund.

  The two-year study is double blind so participants don't know if they get the real protein or a fake. All Mikesell knows is, since the injection, his back is feeling pretty good.

  "I can actually bend over and stand up. The difference is night and day," he said.

  OP1 is made from a protein found naturally in the body, involved in the development of bone, tissues and organs.

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• In 2005, more than 4.3 million Americans visited physician offices for
  spinal disk problems.
  
  
• More than 325,000 spinal fusions were performed in the U.S. in 2005.
  
  
• Researchers are testing the injection of substance called, Osteogenic
  Protein 1, into degenerated disks to determine if the treatment can
  restore disk height.