Patent ID: 8690883

Claim:
An assembly for sealably injecting a fluent material into an intradiscal space accessed through an opening in the annulus of a spinal disc, comprising: a cannula having a passageway for injecting the fluent material therethrough into the intradiscal space, said cannula having a proximal end and a distal end; a seal on said cannula comprising a collar and a seal body, said seal body defining a central opening and having a solid sealing surface, said seal body being disposed more distally on said cannula than said collar and being configured with an interior depression to be compressible under manual pressure between said collar and an outer surface of said annulus adjacent to and externally of the opening as said sealing surface is pressed against said annulus, said central opening of said seal body being sized for passage of said cannula therethrough, with said distal end of said cannula being disposed exteriorly of one side of said seal body and said proximal end being disposed exteriorly of a side opposite to the one side of said seal body; and an articulating joint being configured to permit relative articulation between said seal and each of said distal and proximal ends of said cannula when said cannula extends through said central opening, wherein said articulating joint includes a ball and socket joint, wherein said socket is a generally spherical cavity defined in said seal; and wherein said ball is a generally spherical ball sized to articulate within said cavity and said ball defines a bore sized to receive said cannula therethrough.