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Even if degenerative disc disease (DDD) is a usual part of life as we get older, the condition can cause pain and aching. Luckily, you can find relief through minimally invasive treatment options that offer reprieve and restore your active life. At the Center for the Functional Restoration of the Spine, the experienced team provides innovative and personalized diagnosis and treatment of pain resulting from degenerative disc disease. For effective treatment of degenerative disc in Shrewsbury, call or schedule an appointment online today.
What Is Degenerative Disc Disease?
DDD occurs naturally as you grow older. During aging, the intervertebral discs lose their flexibility, shock-absorbing element, and elasticity. The disc’s outer annulus fibrosus fiber becomes brittle, and the inner nucleus pulposus starts shrinking and drying out. It is the combination of the damaged intervertebral discs, gradual thickening of the ligaments, and bone spurs’ development that results in degenerative arthritis. This process, to some extent, occurs to everyone but not everyone with DDD experiences pain in their lumbar spine.
What Are the Symptoms of DDD?
In case your condition develops symptoms such as aching, it might result in a range of indications because of compression of the nerve roots. Depending on the location of your degenerative disc, it might result in neck and back pain, scorching leg, and arm ache. Worn-out discs cause the symptoms as they don’t work as well as they formerly did. As they dwindle, the space available for the nerve roots lessens too. As the intervertebral discs begin to get weary, the whole lumbar spine becomes less elastic. This results in stiffness and back pain.
How Is Degenerative Disc Disease Diagnosed?
When you go to a specialist, the provider starts by performing a full physical analysis. The provider will inspect your back for range of motion, flexibility, and the availability of particular symptoms that propose the nerve roots are being influenced by degenerative variations in your back. This includes testing your muscle power and your responses to ensure they are still functioning well. The doctor might also order a series of X-rays if you are experiencing pain in your spine. If you have degenerative disc disease, the x-rays will demonstrate a thinning of the intervertebral spaces meaning the disc has thinned or shrunk. In most cases, the doctors will order a CT or an MRI scan to evaluate the lumbar spine’s degenerative changes more completely.
What Are the Available Treatment Options?
After diagnosing the underlying cause of your degenerative disc disease, the doctor will plan a customized treatment option appropriate for your diagnosis. For most people with no indication of muscle weakness and nerve root compression, the doctor may recommend non-surgical and conservative medications, including exercise, rest, and physical therapy. If the conservative treatment options continually fail to relieve the pain, weakness, and numbness sufficiently, surgery is recommended. However, the surgeon must weigh the benefits of spine surgery against the risks before undertaking the procedure.
To sum up, DDD can cause deliberating pain that might affect your ability to carry out your daily tasks. For effective relief of pain resulting from this condition in and around Shrewsbury, call or schedule an appointment online today.
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