Understanding the Medical Terms for Back Pain, Part One

Degenerative Disc Disease – While disc degeneration is a common part of aging, trauma to the spine can cause severe constant chronic pain. Many patients still are left with the wrong impression about what Degenerative Disc Disease really means. So let’s breakdown this compound phrase so we can better understand what exactly is being described.

The term “degenerative”, which means deterioration over time, implies that the symptoms will get worse with age. While it is true that the disc degeneration is likely to progress over time, the low back pain from degenerative disc disease usually does not get worse and in fact usually gets better over time. It is often that case that these symptoms can be treated without surgery! Less than 10% of patients need intervention or treatment beyond rest, over the counter medications, or physical therapy.

And finally the term “disease” is cause for much confusion. Degenerative disc disease is not really a disease at all, but rather it is referring to the more general meaning of disease, a condition that causes pain, dysfunction, or distress to the afflicted.

Herniated Disc – A herniated disk is sometimes referred to as a slipped disk or a ruptured disk. It is often the result of an injury or trauma to the spine.

Your spinal column is made up of bones (vertebrae) that are cushioned by small disks consisting of a tough outer layer (annulus) and a soft, jelly-like inner layer (nucleus). These disks act as shock absorbers, protecting the spine and nerves from the stress of everyday tasks – as well as strenuous work such as heavy lifting.

When a disk “herniates,” a tear or weakness in the annulus allows the jelly-like nucleus to push out into the spinal canal. If it puts pressure on a spinal nerve, the herniated disk can cause pain, numbness or weakness in the back, legs or arms – depending on where the disk is located. Herniated disks are most common in the lower spine, but about 10% occur in the neck.

We’ll define and explain more words concerning back pain in the next post. Subscribe to our RSS feed so you don’t miss it! Subscribe using RSS or receive an email each time we publish a new post.

Tags: Back Pain Treatment, Bulging Disc, Degenerative Disc Disease, Herniated Disc, Medical Questions, medical terms, Ruptured Disk, Slipped Disk