Degenerative Disc Disease

Also Called: Disc degeneration, spondylosis, arthritis of the spine. The word disease overstates it. This is largely normal aging, and most people have some degree of it with no symptoms at all.

What It Is

Discs lose water and height with age. That alone rarely causes a problem, and nearly everyone's discs look degenerated on imaging by middle age. In some people the worn disc becomes a source of ongoing pain. As the disc space narrows, nearby joints and ligaments compensate, which can lead to instability or nerve compression over time.

Causes & Risk Factors

Age is the biggest factor. Genetics strongly influence how early and how severely discs degenerate, apart from lifestyle. Smoking, excess weight, and repetitive heavy loading all speed it up.

Symptoms

• Neck or back pain centered at the spine without pain radiating into the arms or legs
• Often worsens with prolonged sitting, bending, or lifting
• Some patients have occasional flares; others have a constant baseline of discomfort

Diagnosis

Pain centered at the spine that worsens with sitting, bending, or lifting points to the disc as the source. Because worn discs are common on imaging even without symptoms, the finding has to match the pain pattern before it means anything. An MRI confirms which level is involved and how much the disc has narrowed.

Treatment

Degenerative disc disease is a wear process, not an injury, so care focuses on controlling symptoms rather than reversing it. The standard approach: anti-inflammatory and other pain medications, physical therapy, and targeted injections such as an epidural steroid injection. Most patients manage this way indefinitely.

Surgery is considered when a complete course of non-surgical treatment has not relieved the symptoms, or when the disc has narrowed enough to compress a nerve.