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Degenerative Disc Disease: Prevention

How to Prevent it?

Like many diseases it can be prevented by good exercise and healthy eating. This will prevent gaining weight which causes a lot of stress on your back. Also not smoking and lowering increase risk by not doing heavy manual work will also help. But no one can prevent aging, which is another problem with the disease. But many doctors advise to try and take care of your back, and if you are having some pain to come in and get it checked out before it becomes worse. If you have a minor back issue, physical therapy and some pain medication have proven to help. So by getting diagnosed earlier than later can help you as well. Although you can never fully prevent Degenerative Disc Disorder, these measures can help lessen you chance of getting the disease. 

Degenerative Disc Disease: Treatment

How to Treat it?

While some stages of Degenerative Disc Disorder can be helped with pain medicine, other measures include surgery to replace damaged discs or fusion of the spine. If the back pain is minor, doctors usually prescribe a pain medicine that can be used to tolerate pain. It can also be helped through physical therapy. 

Physical therapy allows you to re-strengthen the spine, and allow for pain to be helped through muscle strength. Other forms of therapy include acupuncture as well. But if the problem were to get worse, surgery would have to be done. One procedure that can be done is replacing the corrupted disc. Surgeons would go and remove the damaged disc and replace it with an artificial one. 

While this procedure is rare, it still can be done in certain circumstances. The most common procedure done for this disease is fusion of bone. The procedure is done by fusing the two vertebrae together in order to save surrounding nerves.

 While this surgery creates some limited movement afterwards, and needs further physical therapy after surgery, it is most widely done.  

Degenerative Disc Disease: Types

Different Types

With this disease there are three main types, each one according to mainly location. The locations include the neck otherwise known as cervical, middle of your back or thoracic, and lastly the lower back or lumbar. 

Lumbar is most common as it is the place of your spine that takes on the most weight and action during movement. The second most common is your cervical and lastly is your thoracic. Thoracic is the least know for the disease as it is the middle of your back and usually only used for support. Although least common, thoracic is just as serious as it is the most common place of bone spurs. 

Degenerative Disc Disease: Symptoms

What Symptoms are shown?

Most symptoms are first discovered with minor pain. Each person has different levels of pain and it can worsen over time without any treatment. Where the degenerating disc is located differs for everyone. Some may have it in the neck, and others the lower spine. Many people first notice the problem when they have minor pain, and numbness in certain areas of the body. Problems in the neck may be associated with numbness or weakness in the neck or arms. While problems with the lower back can have numbness in the back, buttock or legs. 

As symptoms get worse one may find it difficult to do some everyday movements. Such movements include bending, twisting and reaching. It may feel better to stand rather than sit or lay down because doing so many lessen nerve pressure, relieving some pain. Tingling in the fingers or toes is a major indicator something is wrong with the nerve. If the symptoms go on, it may create major problems with the nerves themselves which can be long term. 

Degenerative Disc Disease: What Causes It?

What causes it?

As discussed before, Degenerative Disc Disease is most commonly caused by aging. As we age the discs between our vertebrae thin out or lose fluid. This causes less flexibility and shock absorbency within our spine, which then causes the vertebrae in our spine to become closer together. 

As the discs degenerate and become non-existent, the vertebrae then rub together causing discomfort and pain. This disease can also be caused by cracks or tears within the outer layer of the disc. As the layer becomes weaker it forces the jelly like fluid outside of the disc, causing nerves to be accessed by proteins which causes pain. 

These causes are known to be found in more people who smoke, and those whom do heavy manual work. The natural digression of the discs in our back can also be quickened by those who are overweight. Herniated discs have also become more common of a cause of this disease, as you can acquire a herniated disc by a sudden fall as well, which then starts the process of degenerating discs. Once the fluid is lost between the vertebrae the body’s natural reaction is to reproduce bony growths called bone spurs.

 Bone spurs are not as one who think as spurs, but another smooth bone the body naturally produces. The problem that occurs with bone spurs is when they create pressure on surrounding nerves, which can lead to pain and discomfort.  

Degenerative Disc Disease: What is it?

DDD: What is it?

Degenerative Disc Disease is not an actual disease, it is actually a condition of the spine. Commonly known as the breakdown of cartilage in your lower spine, this disease can be caused by age. Mostly worn down over time, this disease cannot be caused by a sudden incident but rather something that happens over a long duration. Many people get the disease in their early 30s to late 50s. Everyone has a spine with 33 interlocking bones known as vertebrae. 

Each vertebrae has a spongy connective tissue between them called discs, which are used for shock absorbance and flexibility. Each disc is composed of two parts, the firm outer layer known as the annulus fibrosus and an inner jelly like component called nucleus pulposus. 

The outer region of the annulus fibrosus is composed of many nerves and if the disc is torn can cause pain. Also if the inner portion of the disc leaks out it can also cause pain as this fluid contains proteins that can irritate said nerves. These discs are composed of connective tissue and are what allows ease with every day movement. Movement such as twisting, bending, and rotating around are all easily done with these vertebrae and discs. The disease becomes an issue when a disc is ruptured. 

Rupture is mainly caused by a herniated disc which is defined as a bulge or breaking open of a spinal disc. The rupture then causes nerves to be pushed on which causes pain, weakness and sometimes numbness to where that nerve leads. 

Another leader in pain is not only the nerve pressure, but also the irritation by the protein filled center. Herniated discs mainly happen in the lower back region, but can happen anywhere along the spine.