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How Disc Pain is Affected by Aging

Disc pain is a common symptom of degenerative disc disease, a broad term that collectively describes the natural deterioration of the intervertebral discs in between each level of vertebrae in the spine. When these sponge-like bodies lose their water content and naturally degenerate over time, they can become hard and brittle, shrink, bulge, or become herniated.

Causes of Disc Pain

By themselves, these changes do not necessarily cause any symptoms. You might have any number of slightly deformed discs at various levels of your spine that are not causing you any pain. However, disc pain can arise when disc changes put pressure on spinal nerves. This can occur due to a variety of different reasons, such as a bulging or herniated disc impinging on a nearby nerve, or narrowed disc space leading to bone-on-bone contact between vertebrae, which can cause bone spurs that can also pinch spinal nerves. It is when a nerve becomes compressed that the disc pain and other symptoms – like numbness, weakness, and tingling – can arise and become problematic. There is also some medical evidence that the discs themselves can become painful, especially when inner disc material leaks out and irritates the local nerves on a disc’s outer wall.

Treatment Options

While there isn't any treatment that will prevent you from getting older, there are a number of options that can help you combat the age-related disc changes and their possible symptoms. Typically, your doctor will recommend a variety of conservative treatments that are often very effective. These can include physical therapy, exercise, stretching, pain medications, hot/cold therapy, and more. However, if you're still suffering from disc pain and other symptoms after weeks or months of conservative treatments, contact Laser Spine Institute to learn more about our revolutionary endoscopic procedures that can help you rediscover your life without back and neck pain.

Please note: Laser Spine Institute currently does not perform endoscopic procedures on the thoracic spine.