Degenerative Disc Specialist
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Patrick S Hill, MD
Spine Surgeon & Disc Replacement Specialist located in Beverly Grove, Los Angeles, CA
At least 33% of people aged 40-59 have moderate-to-severe degenerative disc disease, a condition that happens with normal age-related changes in your spine. At Patrick Hill MD, in the Beverly Grove area of Los Angeles, California, esteemed spine surgeon Dr. Hill (a part of DOCS Health) offers the most progressive cutting-edge solutions for disc degeneration and all its associated issues. He can help you live without back and neck pain, so book your appointment online or call the office for help today.
Degenerative Disc Q & A
What is degenerative disc disease?
Degenerative disc disease is one of the most common causes of back and neck pain today. Your intervertebral discs, which have a tough exterior with a gel-like center, sit between your spinal bones, the vertebrae. The discs absorb shock and help your spine move fluidly.
Everyone experiences some amount of disc degeneration as they age, with more pronounced deterioration usually occurring later in life. In some cases, disc degeneration doesn't cause obvious physical symptoms. If you experience symptoms related to disc degeneration, it's called degenerative disc disease.
What are the symptoms of degenerative disc disease?
As discs thin and break down, it changes how your spine moves and fits together. As a result, you may experience problems such as:
- Neck pain (cervical disc degeneration)
- Back pain (lumbar disc degeneration)
- Radiating pain that shoots to your buttocks and legs
- Radiating pain that shoots to your arms and hands
- Leg muscle weakness
- Numbness in your back, neck, arm, leg, or other nearby areas
- Pins-and-needles sensation in your back, neck, arm, leg, or other nearby areas
- Spinal stiffness
Degenerative disc disease symptoms can vary from person to person. For some, it's a mild issue, but for others, it may cause severe pain that makes it hard to function.
What is the treatment for degenerative disc disease?
In many cases, degenerative disc disease symptoms improve with conservative treatments, including physical therapy, core strengthening exercises, and stretching.
If your symptoms persist, spinal injections, for example, corticosteroid injections, can minimize inflammation and discomfort around a specific disc. However, injections offer only temporary relief, usually lasting from a day to a few months.
You can only have a few corticosteroid injections each year due to the risk of bone thinning, so, injections aren't an ideal long-term solution for degenerative disc disease.
If your disc damage is serious and causes severe pain or other intrusive symptoms, Dr. Hill may recommend discectomy, a surgical procedure to remove the damaged part of your disc. After discectomy, Dr. Hill typically performs a spinal fusion, which merges the two vertebrae on either side of the painful disc, or an artificial disc replacement procedure.
If you have degenerative disc disease and need help with back or neck pain, call Patrick Hill MD or book an appointment online today.