Degenerative Disc Disease

Your spine consists of 33 vertebrae with discs in between each to allow proper cushioning and mobility throughout your back. These discs along with your vertebrae allow your spine to maintain proper posture and carry the weight of your body. Knowing the mechanics of your back and the signs of issues makes early detection and treatment for degenerative disc disease more successful. That’s how an experienced Manhattan team of sports and pain management specialists can help.

The discs between your vertebrae are made up of concentric sheets of collagen fibers. This surrounds the inner core, which is made up of a protein gel with cushioning fibers enclosed. Increased stress and injury cause the breakdown of the outer layer, and the inner layer can leak out. This outcome reduces flexibility, puts pressure on surrounding nerves, and allows bone-on-bone contact, leading to pain and eventual degenerative disc disease treatments.

Causes for Degenerative Disc Disease

Your degenerative disc disease treatment in NYC differs, depending on the cause of your problems. Open and honest communication with your pain specialist helps pinpoint the nature of your back pain and the best possible treatment for degenerative disc disease.
Potential causes of degenerative disc disease include:

Osteoarthritis. As you age, wear and tear of the cartilage puts more pressure on your discs.
Herniated discs. Injury or trauma causes some discs to bulge and herniate.
Spinal stenosis. Narrowing of your spinal canal, due to bone growth or weakening discs, adds pressure to the other discs.
Spondylolisthesis. Poor posture, repetitive motion or injury causes one vertebrae to slip in front of another.
Scoliosis. Discs can degenerate in a lopsided fashion, causing the spine to curve.

Symptoms Direct Your Doctor to Best Treat Degenerative Disc Disease

Symptoms may be mild or severe. They may come and go or become persistent and chronic. Symptoms include:

Pain from leaking discs or bone growths that apply pressure on neighboring nerves
Neck pain; if leaking or damaged discs occur in the first eight vertebrae, it’s called cervical degenerative disc disease
Shoulder pain resulting from irritation or damage to nerves and discs, where the pain radiates toward your shoulder, also called cervical radiculopathy
Hand pain and numbness resulting from referred pain in your neck
A movement that becomes painful
Back pain, especially in your lower back if the vertebrae at the end of your spine are compromised
Hip pain, another form of lumbar radiculopathy from radiating nerve root pain
Leg pain or sciatica occurs when the largest nerve in your leg becomes pinched and inflamed, causing pain when sitting, standing or walking
Normal daily activities become difficult to perform

It’s hard to determine when your pain is from overuse and when more extensive degenerative disc disease treatment may be required. You should definitely consult your NYC physician if your pain gets worse for no obvious reason, especially if rest and over-the-counter medication doesn’t provide relief. If numbness and tingling continue or you become unable to move part of your body, call for an appointment. If you start to lose control of your bowels or bladder, seek medical attention soon.

Diagnosis to Prepare for Degenerative Disc Treatments

Certain individuals have a greater risk of developing degenerative disc disease. If you’re obese or a smoker, or you have a job doing the heavy lifting, your chances increase. Your sports medicine and pain specialist considers these and other information from:

A complete and extensive medical history
Physical exam
Range-of-motion tests
Looking for areas of tenderness and nerve-related changes, such as numbness, weakness, and tingling
Checking for other conditions, such as fractures, tumors, or infection
Imaging tests

How to Treat Degenerative Disc Disease

Treatments, as with any degenerative disease, focus mainly on symptom relief and slowing the progression of the disease. Your Manhattan pain specialist may suggest several treatments at once, including:

Physical therapy
Exercises for stretching and strengthening
Cold and heat treatments
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
Careful and gentle manual manipulation
Epidural steroid injections
Rarely, surgery to remove damaged discs, fuse your spine for strength, or replace a damaged disc with an artificial substitute

Aftercare for Degenerative Disc Disease Treatments

As your pain subsides and mobility improves, your NYC pain specialist may recommend continued physical therapy, pain medication, or a brace for your neck or back to relieve any further flare-ups. Avoiding nicotine and excessive alcohol helps keep discomfort minimized.

Drinking plenty of water, taking daily walks, and investing in ergonomic furniture help sustain your recovery and keeps you on a more comfortable lifestyle path. While some of your fitness and sports activities may be curtailed, you should be able to continue with a modified lifestyle for a long time.

Febin Melepura, MD is a top rated, best in class interventional pain management doctor. He is a nationally recognized pain relief specialist and is among the top pain care doctors in New York City and the country. He is an award winning expert and contributor to a prominent media outlets.

Dr. Febin Melepura has been recognized for his thoughtful, thorough, modern approach to treating chronic pain and, among other accolades, has been named a “top pain management doctor in New York”, and one of “America’s Top Doctors™” for an advanced sports injury treatments.