Preventing Degenerative Disc Disease

Just like a car, it is impossible for your body to avoid wear and tear with your spine being no exception to this part of life. As we age, our discs are subject to a wide variety of ailments and injuries including degenerative disc disease. If you think you may be suffering from degenerative disc disease or would like to prevent it from occurring, contact a spine surgeon in Suffolk County at New York Orthopaedic Spinal Associates.

Causes Of Degenerative Disc Disease

Sometimes it is not one particular event that causes degenerative disc disease, it may just be years of slow wear and tear.  Some causes of degenerative disk disease are:

• Drying out – When we are born the disks are almost made up entirely of water.  Over the years the water dries out little by little sometimes they dry out so much, they begin to degenerate.
• Life – Especially when we are young, we are full of energy and we want to have fun! So we play sports or mess around with our friends and participate in physical activities. Physical activities can over time cause wear and tear to the spine due to overuse.
• Injuries – Traumatic injury can also be the catalyst to disc degeneration.

Symptoms

If you think you have degenerative disc disease and want to go to the spine surgeon in Suffolk County but are not sure how to describe the symptoms, some of the symptoms are:

• Back Pain – if you are playing an intense game of Twister and are in excruciating pain when you twist, sit, and bend then it might be a symptom of degenerative disk disease.
• Walking makes it easier – Walking around and moving around helps alleviate the pain this is a symptom.
• Pain varies – If the pain varies from how extreme it is and how long it affects you this is another sign.  The pain can last from a few days to a few months.
• Numbness – Feeling like there are pins and needles or tingling in your extremities.

Treatments

Treatments include:

• • Medication – Painkillers including aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen sodium can help reduce swelling, however, should not be used as a primary form of treatment.
  • Rest –  Resting your back can be a simple remedy for acute symptoms.
  • Exercises – Strengthening the supportive tissues of the spine can be extremely beneficial towards reducing pain associated with degenerative disc disease.
  • Surgery– Depending on the nature of your condition, a spine surgeon in Suffolk County may recommend surgery as the best recourse. Surgery may be artificial disc replacement, fusion surgery, and more.

Just because life wears you down does not mean there isn’t anything you could do to improve your situation. Degenerative disc disease is something that may not be avoided but that does not mean the consequences of degenerative disc disease has to be with you for the rest of your life.  There are ways to combat degenerative disc disease so do not stress and just contact our spine surgeon in Suffolk County.