Back pain is one of the most common physical ailments among adults. According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 80% of adults experience low back pain at some point.2 In fact, a 2010 study of conditions with the greatest effect on poor health ranked low back pain third overall.2 However, degenerative disc disease causes more than just lower back pain. In order to understand your cause of back pain, you should know the details of degenerative disc disease.
Types of Back Pain
There are multiple types of back pain, including acute, subacute, and chronic. If you’re experiencing back pain, you should know which category your pain falls into. This will help you determine whether degenerative disc disease is your cause of back pain.
Acute back pain is short-term, lasting only a few days or a few weeks. This type of pain is self-limited, which means that it has a definite course and will end.1 However, studies have shown that 20% of people living with acute pain eventually develop chronic back pain.2
Subacute pain lasts between 4-12 weeks and has a somewhat slower onset than acute pain.2
Finally, chronic back pain lasts 12 weeks or longer and is persistent even after the underlying cause has been treated.2 Chronic pain is most often associated with degenerative disc disease because it can be difficult to diagnose and properly treat.
Signs of Degenerative Disc Disease
Understanding the symptoms of degenerative disc disease can help you understand your cause of back pain. The following are some of this condition’s most common symptoms.
Pain Based on Your Position and Movement
Pain that is worse when sitting than in other positions is a common symptom of degenerative disc disease. Spinal discs take on three times as much stress when sitting than standing, making this position painful for anyone with degenerative discs. You may experience relief when you lie down or by changing your positions often, or even while walking or running.
Pain that worsens when you make bending, lifting, or twisting motions is another common sign. Bending forward, side bending, arching your back, and rotating or twisting while bending are common actions that put stress on your spinal discs. Much like pain caused by sitting, this added stress will feel even more painful if your spinal discs have degenerated.
Chronic vs. Acute Pain
Another common symptom is experiencing pain that comes and goes. You may bouts of chronic pain lasting a few days or up to a few months. Although this pain may only last for a few days at a time, it differs from acute pain because it returns, whereas acute pain solves itself and will not return. This is part of what can make degenerative disc disease difficult to pinpoint, as people may believe their pain is acute and has solved itself if it goes away after a few days. With short bouts of pain returning again and again, you may not realize it all has the same cause. This pain may also range in severity from mild, nagging pain to debilitating pain. Depending on the location of the degenerative discs and whether or not there’s pain referral, pain may be felt in the lower back, neck, arms, or legs.
Scatica & Muscle Spasms
You may also feel numbness or tingling in your affected extremities, especially if the disc degeneration causes sciatica. This may also lead to weakness of the leg muscles or “foot drop,” which is an inability to lift the foot off the ground.
You may also feel painful muscle spasms in your lower back or neck, depending on where in your spine the damaged discs are located. These spasms are a result of spine instability and are your body’s attempt to stabilize the vertebrae.
Degenerative disc disease can manifest in many ways and be difficult to recognize, but educating yourself on this condition can help you gain control over your health, and help you recognize when you may need to receive treatment.
- Grichnik, K. P., & Ferrante, F. M. (1991, May). The difference between acute and chronic pain. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1875958
- Low Back Pain Fact Sheet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/patient-caregiver-education/fact-sheets/low-back-pain-fact-sheet
