Spinal Decompression For Degenerative Disc Disease
What Is A Degenerative Disc Disease?
Degenerative disc disease in the lower spine can create a number of symptoms, including back pain, sciatica, numbness or tingling in the legs and feet, weakness, difficulty standing up straight, and possibly even sexual dysfunction or bladder control problems.
Degenerative disc disease can involve one or more of the spinal discs, sometimes effecting all of the discs in a region of the spine more or less equally, and other times only effecting a single disc.
The discs are the soft-tissue "shock absorbers" between the spinal bones. The discs have a center composed of a semi-liquid gel. Due various injuries over time, the discs may become damaged and begin to gradually lose fluid and degenerate. Oftentimes, degenerative disc disease is seen in association with a bulging or hernated disc. As the fluid loss continues, the discs become thinner and no longer provide shock absorption.
As degenerative disc disease progresses, the thinner the discs become, and the more pressure there is on the spinal joint surfaces. This increased pressure on the joints causes the body to lay down additional bone to reinforce the area. Over time, this extra bone forms ridges and spurs which sometimes start to close off the openings that the spinal cord and spinal nerves pass through (which is called spinal and neural stenosis).
How Does Spinal Decompression Help A Degenerated Disc?
Spinal decompression creates a suction within the disc that pulls fluid and nutrients into the disc to help with healing and regeneration. The amount of improvement in the actual structure and condition of degenerated discs from decompression treatment varies greatly, depending on a variety of factors. Even so, good to excellent long-term symptomatic improvements from spinal decompression in cases of degeneartive disc disease are expected in the vast majority of cases.
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