What Is Degenerative Disc Disease?

Simply put, degenerative disc disease describes the symptoms of pain and possibly radiating weakness or numbness stemming from a degenerated disc in the spine. While the definition sounds simple, many patients diagnosed with degenerative disc disease are left wondering exactly what this diagnosis means for them.

Common questions often include:

If I have this much pain in my thirties, how much worse will it become with age?

Will the disease become a crippling condition? Will I end up in a wheelchair?

Should I restrict my activities? Can I still play sports?

Will the disease spread to other parts of the spine?

Will the degenerated disc(s) cause any permanent damage?

Is surgery inevitable?

A diagnosis of "degenerative disc disease" is alarming to many patients because it sounds like a progressive, threatening disease. However, it is not really a disease, and it is not strictly degenerative.

For most people the term degenerative understandably implies that the symptoms will get worse with age. However, the term does not apply to the symptoms, but rather describes the process of the disc degenerating over time.

While it is true that the disc degeneration is likely to progress over time, the pain from degenerative disc disease usually does not get worse and in fact usually gets better given enough time. The degenerative cascade theory explains how this process works.

Another source of confusion is probably created by the term disease, which is actually a misnomer. Degenerative disc disease is not really a disease at all, but rather a degenerative condition that at times can produce pain from a damaged disc.

See How a Disc Becomes Painful

Source: Spine Health Website.

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