Degenerative Disc Disease Specialist

What is degenerative disc disease?

Degenerative disc disease affects the spongy discs separating the vertebrae in your spine. These circular discs consist of a soft center surrounded by a fibrous outer coating. When you’re young, the discs are plump and contain plenty of water, which enables them to absorb shock traveling up your spine. Discs also help to stabilize your spine.

As the years pass, the water content of your spinal discs falls, and degenerative disc disease sets in. The discs flatten because they’re drier and have endured years of wear, which can alter your spinal alignment. The outer coating gets weaker, and the soft inner material might push against or through the shell.

These changes lead to some of the most common causes of back or neck pain — spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spinal canal) and bulging or herniated discs.

What symptoms does degenerative disc disease cause?

Many people have degenerative disc disease in later life without experiencing any notable problems. Others might feel a little stiffness or aching in their back or neck. For some people, degenerative disc disease and the conditions it causes lead to a range of unpleasant symptoms, including:

• Back pain
• Neck pain
• Numbness
• Tingling
• Weakness
• Loss of function

These symptoms often spread out from the affected discs. In your neck, symptoms radiate into your shoulders and arms; in your lower back, they spread into your hips, buttocks, and legs. A common problem that’s often due to disc problems is sciatica (lumbar radiculopathy), where pressure on the sciatic nerve in your lower back causes shooting leg pain.

How is degenerative disc disease treated?

Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to cure degenerative disc disease. However, the Total Spine Institute team offers a range of effective treatments to relieve your symptoms. The non-surgical approaches they begin with include:

• Anti-inflammatory medication
• Physical therapy
• Epidural steroid injections
• Nerve blocks
• PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections

For most patients with degenerative disc disease, surgery isn’t necessary.

When might I need surgery for degenerative disc disease?

If degenerative disc disease is causing problems like severe spinal stenosis or disc herniation, your provider can discuss surgical options with you. Possible surgeries include artificial disc replacement, discectomy (removing an entire disc) and fusion, microdiscectomy (removing part of a disc), and spinal decompression.

You might benefit from having a Coflex® Interlaminar Stabilization® device implant after spinal decompression. The team also uses the Vertiflex™ Procedure Superion™ Indirect Decompression System.

Using minimally invasive spine surgery techniques and robotic-assisted surgery, the Total Spine Institute team completes these operations with exceptional precision and minimal pain. 

To find out more about degenerative disc disease treatments, call the nearest Total Spine Institute office or book an appointment online today.