The Stages of Degenerative Disc Disease

If you have been having consistent and nagging pain in your neck and/or lower back, numbness and tingling into your hands and feet and are unable to find relief, you may be suffering from a condition known as degenerative disc disease. It is crucial to consult a healthcare professional to obtain an accurate diagnosis.

What is Degenerative Disc Disease?

Degenerative Disc disease is a disorder in which the disc within your spinal canal slowly start to lose their functionality and structure. Your spine is made up of bones called vertebrae, these vertebrae start in your neck and descend to your lower back, between these vertebrae are cushion like structures which are called discs. These discs act as shock-absorbers in the spine along with helping aid mobility throughout the spinal column.

Everyday throughout the course of your life these discs help in the transitions of movements and activities that you partake in. Naturally, as time goes on, these discs start to lose their functionality and patency, much the same way as we develop osteoarthritis in our bones. When our discs start to lose their strength and begin deteriorating this is classified as degenerative disc disease. As your discs begin to degenerate you may not have any symptoms at all, however the more severe the degeneration is the more likely you are to experience symptoms such as neck pain, back pain and/or numbness and tingling into your hands or feet.

What causes degenerative disc disease?

There are a number of possible causes of degenerative disc disease with age related changes being the most common cause of degenerative disc disease. The reason that age related changes are the most common cause is because as we age we continually exert more and more pressure on these discs. The increase of wear and tear on these discs overtime affects them in two ways; it causes loss in the fluid within your discs, this in turn makes decreases how much shock abosorption the disc can undergo and also makes them less malleable and secondly it causes the discs to have microtears on its outter part and inturn can make us more susceptible to nerve related damage. The culmination of these changes over time and the decreased capacity for your discs to work optimally.

What are the symptoms of degenerative disc disease?

Degenerative disc disease can present itself in the following ways:

• Localized neck pain

• Localized back pain

• Numbness in to the arms and hands

• Numbness into the legs and feet

It is very important to note that each person with degenerative disc disease may present differently, an example of this is there have been studies showing that people who have relatively the same amount of degeneration in their discs can have completely different symptos ie one person may be in excruciating pain and the other has no symptoms at all. Hence why it is always important to see your healthcare professional to get an accurate diagnosis.

How do you diagnose degenerative disc disease?

To accurately diagnose degenerative disc disease your healthcare provider will complete a thorough history and physical exam, upon the culmination of this examination if they suspect that you are suffering from this disorder they will most likely send your for imaging (X-ray, MRI) to confirm this diagnosis. If you are sent for an X-ray the healthcare provider will be assessing your spine to see if there are signs of degeneration by assessing the bones in your spine as you are unable to see discs in and x-ray. Furthermore, if this is inconclusive they will refer you for an MRI for a more in-depth look into the area. Once they analyze the results and see that there are changes in the disc they will diagnose you with degenerative disc disease.

What are the stages of degenerative disc disease?

If you have been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease you will categorized by a stage. Stage 1 is the least severe and stage 4 is the most severe. Below the stages will be outlined:

Stage 1: In the 1st stage, the spine may lose its normal balance or arch, affecting the posture and inducing stress to the nerves and accelerating their aging process. You are not likely to feel any pain in this stage but you might experience a sense of discomfort. You may also feel sluggish or experience changes in your posture to compensate for the slight degeneration of the discs.

Stage 2: In this stage, you may witness increased postural changes as the degeneration is greater. It has been projected that by age 40, about 78% of men and women exhibit moderate disc degeneration. During this phase, a person is much more likely to feel intermittent aches and pains as well as tiredness. Unfortunately, many people consider that the reduced energy and aches and pains are normal and not a sign of degenerative disc disease.

Stage 3: Further postural changes occur in this stage. This is also associated with additional damage to the spine due to the possibility of severe nerve compression. Bone spurs may form and compress the nerves, leading to radiating pain and increased feeling of tiredness and exhaustion

Stage 4: In the end stage or in advanced degenerative disc disease, the intervertebral disc degenerates and the disc space collapses resulting in herniation of the inner disc material through the disc wall. MRI or a CT scan may also reveal visible changes in the bony portion of the neighboring vertebrae. The pressure of the herniated disc on the nerves leads to pain and neurological symptoms. The symptoms of advanced degenerative disc disease depend largely on which spinal level the pathology occurs and the amount of herniation or stenosis involved.

What are the risk factors for degenerative disc disease:

The risk factors that may pre-dispose you to degenerative disc disease are:
• Advanced age
• Prior herniated disc or spinal injury
• A job that requires strenuous, physical work
• Lack of exercise
• Obesity
• Inherited genes
• Smoking
• Poor posture

What is the treatment for degenerative disc disease?

The treatment of degenerative disc disease includes medication, physical therapy and surgery. If you are presenting with mild/moderate symptoms your doctor may give you a course of Tylenol on anti-inflammatories to help decrease symptoms. If symptoms continue to persist you will be referred to physical therapy and at which point you will be given exercises and strengthening programs to help decrease the amount of pain you are in. Spinal Decompression has also become a very popular recommendation for non-surgical candidates who suffer from degenerative disc disease. If you are unable to find relief and your symptoms are very severe you may be a candidate for surgery.

When should I consider surgery?

It is always important to discuss any surgical intervention with your surgeon. Saying that surgical intervention is usually the last resort, it is always important to try alternative therapies before heading to surgery. The time at which point you should consider surgery is after you have taken various avenues to help fix your pain and they have not resulted in any relief, if the pain is very severe and causes you to be debilitated and makes you unable to completed your activites of daily living.

See Other Related Articles