What is Meant by Degenerative Disc Disease? - Causes, Symptoms and Diagnosis of DDD

Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is part of the natural process of growing older. Degenerative disc disease (DDD) is a condition in which the spinal discs start to dehydrate and shrink. Degenerative disc disease causes loss of disc height and less room between the vertebrae. This condition is usually found in the neck (cervical) and lower back (lumbar) regions of the spine. Degenerative disc disease is also called spinal degeneration or simply disc disease.

There are several possible causes for Degenerative disc disease. Sometimes discs becomes dry and shrunken due to leaking of protein from the disc. Degenerative disc disease can result from trauma (acute or chronic / repetitive), infection, or the natural processes of aging. It can euphemistically be referred to as the "grey hairs of the spine".

SYMPTOMS OF DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE :

1. Local Pain
2. Stiffness
3. Muscle tingling, numbness, or weakness
4. Restricted activity / Loss of mobility
5. Symptom relief with certain movements or positions
6. Radiating upper body symptoms with cervical DDD.
7. Pain in the low back, buttocks, thighs, or neck
8. Pain that worsens when sitting, bending, lifting, or twisting
9. Pain that feels better when walking, changing positions, or lying down
10. Periods of severe pain that gets better after a few days or months
11. Numbness and tingling into the legs
12. Weakness in the legs
13. Foot drop

DIAGNOSIS OF DEGENERATIVE DISC DISEASE :

Degenerative disc disease is diagnosed with a medical history and physical examination. During the exam, your doctor should check for range of motion and pain associated with the affected area, as well as any tenderness, numbness, tingling, or weakness.

1.Blood and / or urine tests to rule out other causes of pain
2. MRI Scan -a test that uses magnetic waves to make pictures of structures inside the body
3. X-ray -a test that uses radiation to take a picture of structures inside the body, especially the bones
4. Discography -injecting dye into the affected spinal area of an awake patient to obtain clearer x-ray images

Conservative treatments are tried first for Degenerative Disc Disease and surgical treatment options are considered last resort for Degenerative Disk Disease.

How to Rehabilitate Your Lower Back

Lower back exercises when done properly can significantly reduce low back pain by activating muscles of the low back and "core." 80% of people will experience some form of low back pain in their lifetime. Therefore, people should be doing some kind of exercise for the lower back to prevent injuries.

The most common form of lower back pain is "mechanical low back pain," which happens when a patient uses the wrong muscles to load the joints of the lower back. When a patient experiences mechanical low back pain it is very hard to pinpoint a direct cause for the pain. This type of pain usually occurs due to a direct injury to the area, repetitive overuse injury, or posture related injuries.

When the wrong muscle gets loaded by a joint it causes the muscle that was supposed to be loaded to get turned off by the brain. Then the brain really doesn't know that muscle exists for a certain action. For example, people who sit all day long usually have trouble using their gluteus maximus muscle when it comes to hip hinging and other activities that require this muscle to fire.

Therefore; the gluteus maximus muscle will get shut off by the brain and a different muscle will take the blunt of the work. These are usually the muscles of the lower back getting the workload. This can then cause pain. Proper hip hinge refers to using your hips as hinges to lower your body into a squat position, which is what we all do when we sit down. This action should be dominated by the gluteus maximus muscle and not by the muscles of the lower back.

Lower Back Rehabilitation Exercises:

Cat-Camel Exercise:

The Goal is spinal mobility. Good first exercise in a rehabilitation program. Maintain slow and controlled posture. This exercise has to be pain free. Perform 10-20 reps and 2-3 sets per day.

Abdominal Bracing:

Proper position is on all fours. Bracing the abdominals is exactly what you do when you are going to get punched in the stomach. Place hands around mid-section to check for proper activation. This is very good to train the abdominal muscles in the initial phase of the rehab program. Brace for 3-5 seconds and do 8-10 reps.

Glute Squeezes:

This exercise must be done first to maintain activation of the glutes before progressing to glute bridges. Feel the hamstrings and lower back to make sure the glutes are doing all the work. Simply perform by squeezing the glutes together.

Glute Max Bridges:

Brace the abdominals first. Then squeeze the glutes together and bridge up. This is a very good exercise for gluteus maximus activation and is key in lower back rehabilitation. Feel the hamstrings and lower back to make sure the glutes have the most tone. If the glutes don't have the most tone go back to glute squeezes until this occurs.

Side Bridges:

Start on knees and advance onto feet. Activation of the transverse abdominus (core muscle) contributes to low back stability. Abdominal brace first, then squeeze glutes together to raise up making sure knees, hips, and shoulders are in line. Hold the bridge for 3-5 seconds for beginners and do 10-15 reps. Advanced side bridge can be held for as long as possible for endurance.

Bird Dogs:

It's very important to brace the abdominals first. Stretch opposite arm and leg out and maintain a slow controlled motion to maintain activation of the core and glute muscles.

Body Weight Squats:

This exercise must be done when the patient knows proper hip hinge procedure. Hip hinging is bending at the hips using the glutes to guide the movement. We do not want excessive bending and moving in the lumbar spine.

Tri-Planar Lunges

There are 3 planes of motion sagittal (front to back), frontal ( side to side), and transverse (diagonal movement). Every muscle and joint must be able to move in these planes of motion. So to properly train the glutes movement must occur in 3 planes of motion.

Always consult your physician before starting any exercise or rehabilitation program. These lower back rehabilitation exercises are not suited for everyone. If you feel you should start a rehabilitation program please consult a health care professional.

Lower back rehabilitation is an integral part of beating lower back pain. Lower back exercises can be found here with picture demonstrations.

Sciatica Exercises and Common Prevention Methods

There are a lot of common exercises to prevent sciatica and backache in general. We would like you note down a list of such preventive measures. A few sciatica exercises are also in the list, which are useful for muscle-related sciatica, and also helps combat stress.

1. Sleeping at least 7-8 hours a day. You need to sleep and give your body adequate rest between your work and play. A lot of times, it has been seen that your body responds nicely and relaxes enough to cure itself of the muscle strain, thus reducing pain all over. So, sleeping is a great way to give your body the space to be free and calm. If you cannot relax or sleep, a good idea would be to use some kind of relaxant, either natural or artificial, which would help you sleep. Drinking a glass of slightly warm milk right before your bedtime, might just do the trick.

2. Stretching works to release the stress of your body. It is one of the common sciatica exercises that effectively reduces pain and induces better blood circulation. It also unlocks muscles which have been locked in places, and increases mobility and flexibility of the body. You would find your body feeling lighter after doing a series of stretches.

3. Walking is another great thing in sciatica exercises if you have a muscle-related issue. When you walk, your body stretches itself and increases blood circulation. That in turn makes sure your body is pumping blood, and exercising those muscles which were locked together in unnatural stances. Walking is a great exercise, and it relaxes the body and burns energy too.

4. Physiotherapeutic sciatica exercises, for people affected by the problem, is another great way of combatting the issue. Generally, a good physiotherapist would be recommended by your doctor as part of your therapy. You would get to meet the physiotherapist who you can tell of your problem, either nervous or muscular, and the therapist would then give you a series of exercise to deal with the issue more efficiently. Generally, your doctor would be able to recommend you a good therapist, but if he cannot, you will have to look around for one who is experienced enough to deal with your problem.

These are the common prevention methods of sciatica as well as some of the more useful and easy cures that you can do yourself.

Effective Chiropractic Care For a Slipped Disc

We put our bodies - and specifically, our spines - through an enormous amount of stress during a typical day. When we're young, this stress rarely produces discomfort in our lower backs and legs. When we reach middle age, however, the aches and pain become obvious. Most people dismiss such pain as a normal part of "getting old." In reality, it is often due to a herniated disc, a condition that can be remedied with professional chiropractic care.

To understand the goal of chiropractic in treating a herniated - or "slipped" - disc, it's important to understand how it causes lower back and leg pain. This article will present a brief explanation of a slipped disc, and describe how chiropractors diagnose the problem. We'll then take a look at how the condition is treated.

A Herniated Disc Explained

Your spine is partly comprised of vertebrae, which are made of bone. Between each vertebra lies a small, cartilage-based disc that functions as a shock absorber whenever you move. For example, suppose you jump from a chair and hit the ground. Without the discs between them, the vertebrae would impact each other, causing significant pain.

The discs also support spinal flexibility. On its own, your spine would be unable to provide sufficient elasticity for you to curl up into a ball and roll along the ground. In fact, your spinal range of motion would be severely hampered without the discs in place.

In the middle of each disc sits a jelly-like material called nucleus pulposus. When people mention a "slipped" disc, they're usually referring to a bulging of the disc, or a rupture that allows the nucleus pulposus to leak. Both are typically caused by a collection of factors, including lack of hydration, poor posture over a prolonged period, and lifting heavy items.

Even though it may seem as if a single event (e.g. swinging a bat) causes a disc to slip, this is rarely the case. Instead, the disc has usually been placed under prolonged stress, and a final event triggered the pain.

Diagnosing The Cause Of The Pain

A chiropractor will take your history, test your reflexes, and look for signs of muscle atrophy. He or she will also examine areas influenced by the nerves impacted by the herniated disc. The purpose of doing so is to determine whether these areas suffer any degree of numbness.

Your posture will also be analyzed to help the chiropractor identify areas of your spine that may be suffering from a ruptured or bulging disc. Lastly, x-rays are taken for further examination of your vertebrae.

Are Slipped Discs "Popped" Back In Place?

A common fallacy about chiropractic is that treatment for a slipped disc involves popping the disc back into place using methods that employ aggressive force. This is inaccurate. In most cases, chiropractic care involves gentle manipulation with low-force methods. In the event such techniques are unable to remedy the condition, your chiropractor will likely refer you to a specialist, or a medical doctor for emergency care.

How Chiropractors Treat A Herniated Disc

The two most widely-used forms of chiropractic treatment are flexion-distraction and pelvic blocking. The former approach uses a special table that is designed to gently stretch your spine. Your chiropractor will use a variety of techniques to separate the affected disc from the nearby nerve. This lessens inflammation, and usually reduces the level of pain felt in the lower back and legs.

Pelvic blocking relies upon gravity and gentle maneuvering techniques to separate the herniated disc from the nerve. These techniques avoid the use of force. Cushions are placed underneath your pelvis so your body is positioned appropriately.

Lower back pain can be debilitating. While the underlying condition may occasionally call for emergency medical treatment, most cases can be successfully remedied through chiropractic.

Lumbar Herniated Disc - What You Can Do to Fix Your Herniated Disc and Remove the Lumbar Pain

Fixing a lumbar herniated disc does not always mean precisely the same to everyone. Generally it either would mean either help me get rid of the back pain, or help me treat the herniated disc. Often the result at first may be the very same but the outlook is without a doubt critical.

Getting Rid of Back Pain vs. Fixing the Lumbar Herniated Disc

In case you purely wish to cover up the back pain you can actually just take one of the several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, get regular cortisone injections, or maybe beg your physician for another pharmaceutical drug substitute. Even though you could quite possibly hit the goal of stopping back pain, you certainly have not addressed the actual problem.

On the other hand, if you ever choose to repair a herniated disc by really looking at the root problem as well as the warning signs you'll have a higher likelihood of both reducing the pain and preventing its recurrence.

Before anything else, understand that besides occasions involving shock a disc herniation doesn't show up promptly. It might just seem as if you "threw your back out" suddenly, but it absolutely was a longer process of getting weaker gradually which let your disc to suddenly get significantly problematic. The thing you may find astonishing is many have a herniated disc without having pain. It's when the disc or inside substance from your herniated disc press against a nerve that pain results.

What causes a lumbar herniated disc?

To put it simply, disc herniations are mainly attributable to uneven pressure. Visualize driving a car that is misaligned. Imagine its tires move irregularly due to more pressure being situated on one edge. Keep on driving while not correcting the actual problem and in the end you will get a blowout at the worn out edge.

The impact on spinal discs is actually similar. Unequal pressure because of muscle imbalances cause the less-pressured side of the disc to herniate or rupture, forcing the jellylike interior through the fibrous disc membrane into the spinal column.

There can be of course various other contributing aspects like hydration, nutritional imbalances and excess anxiety and negative beliefs to name a few.

How to fix a lumbar herniated disc

The primary task to fixing a lumbar herniated disc is clearly to eliminate this unequal pressure. A highly useful procedure for removing spine pressure you can do without difficulty is known as spinal decompression.

Through the use of an exercise ball as well as different equipment, negative pressure is used to drag your spinal vertebrae in the direction of your top instead of towards the feet. Probably the most helpful instruments for obtaining such outcome is with the help of an inversion table, which uses gravity to carefully ease disc pressure. This negative pressure has been known to help a lumbar herniated disc to come back to a natural posture on it's own.

As soon as you will have relieved the initial pressure you will still need to take care of the root cause of compression: muscle imbalances. Using a muscle balance therapy self evaluation as well as seeing a provider versed with this course of treatment you'll find certain muscle imbalances leading to unequal spinal pressure. Next you will work with workout routines targeted to strengthen weakened musculature as well as exercises for overused and tight muscles to be able to reverse those imbalances.

Through relieving the pressure to the herniated disc as well as repairing the actual muscle imbalances you will have either repaired the herniated disc or moved on considerably in direction of bettering the problem.

And keep in mind, you can't ignore the other causes talked about before. In order to get true long-term relief you have to find the mixture of treatments that deal with all your fundamental causes.

Scoliosis: A Spinal Disorder

About 5 to 7 million Americans are affected by a disorder called scoliosis. It is a medical condition in which the spine curves away from the middle, side to side. People who have scoliosis sometimes also have lordosis (curving of the spine inward) or kyphosis (curving of the spine outward). There are three different types of scoliosis, dependent upon how it is contracted. They are: a) congenial, b) neuromuscular, and c) idiopathic, or of unknown cause. Scientists do believe that genetics play a role; however the precise mechanisms and relationships to the disorder remain unclear. One of the most common forms of scoliosis is adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Girls are more prone than boys in developing a severe form of it, requiring medical attention.

There are times when the spine itself is normal, but scoliosis develops in response to a problem somewhere else in the body. Muscle spasms in the back, a difference between leg lengths, and even poor posture can cause this type of functional scoliosis. Neuromuscular scoliosis can be very severe. In this form of scoliosis, one has difficulty with muscle control and strength, due to diseases such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or polio. Scoliosis thus affects individuals to various degrees of severity. People with a milder form of functional scoliosis can seek treatment through chiropractic care; however, those with a more serious condition do need to seek more invasive medical solutions.

Not only does scoliosis limit one's range of physical abilities, it also may hurt one's emotional growth and outlook, especially in the teenagers it commonly afflicts. In some cases of scoliosis, the damage is so severe that the rib cage presses in toward the heart and lungs, thereby inducing further health problems such as lung infections and pneumonia.

Scoliosis often exists in a mild form that can be detected only by trained professionals. There is no need for great concern in these cases, as long as the condition is being monitored. In any case, when children and teenagers have scoliosis, their conditions need to be followed with great care, since their bones are in the midst of rapid growth. Their spines can grow and curve even more to the side within a few months. Thus, for those in this age group, consistent and frequent checkups are an absolute must.

Several methods are used to help detect scoliosis. The best way to begin is to get a postural analysis during your physical examination. If there seems to be significant abnormal curvature in your spine, your doctor may then refer you to a specialist. Next, an X-ray is taken of the spine to determine the location and degree of spinal curvature.

After the X-ray, your doctor may also want to examine your wrist and bones too. Knowing your skeletal age and characteristics will help your doctor evaluate the rate of bone growth and progression of scoliosis. Your doctor may ask you to go in for checkups regularly in order to monitor the spinal curvature.

There is also a device called the inclinometer, or Scoliometer, which helps estimate the amount of curvature in the spine. The Scoliometer is handy in that it reduces X-ray exposure and is completely pain-free and non-invasive.

When the scoliosis progresses slowly, very little treatment may be needed. On the other hand, scoliosis in pre-menstrual girls is very likely to become aggressive in growth, especially the year before their first menstruation when they grow at a very rapid rate. Scoliosis can be exacerbated very quickly during this growth spurt. Once menstruation begins, their growth rate slows down and the scoliosis does not develop as rapidly.

Besides periodic checkups, treatment options may involve either the use of a brace or even surgery. People with mild cases of scoliosis generally lead very normal lifestyles. Braces are used when a child is still growing. The brace can help prevent further curving of the spine, but cannot cure scoliosis or forcibly reverse the curvature already there. When the scoliosis shows signs of potentially harming vital organ function, surgery for scoliosis - also known as spinal fusion - may help reduce the degree of curvature and prevent such damage. Doctors resort to surgery in only the most severe, debilitating cases of scoliosis.

Scoliosis can sometimes be very painful, and chiropractic care can help relieve much of that pain. Scoliosis is a disorder that cannot be "cured" per se, but chiropractic care can certainly help in managing and reducing the discomfort, enabling one to live with scoliosis more easily.

Scoliosis can be a worrisome, uncomfortable disorder even in its mildest stages. If you are concerned that you or child may have scoliosis, please contact your physician immediately.

Ab Exercises For Spondylolisthesis

Chosing the right kind of ab exercises for spondylolisthesis is a vital part to a proper recovery. A large number of people diagnosed with spondylolisthesis or spondylolysis are instructed to strengthen their core. The immediate reaction is to rush home and perform thousands of sit ups. But this approach could lead to additional harm to the spine.

Why Crunches Are Hard On Your Spine

The June 9th, 2009 issue of Newsweek published an article titled, "Stop doing sit ups: Why crunches don't work." This article referred to the findings of Stuart McGill, a professor of spine bio mechanics. Dr. McGill's studies found that the excessive and repetitive bending and flexing motion of the spine can lead to disc bulges and even herniation. Dr. McGill's study reveled that a full crunch can put as much as 730 lbs of compression on the spine!

Since these studies have been released, the use of crunches has been reduced by several therapists, strength coaches and doctors. The debate is a hot topic in the field of fitness as the back is one of the most often injured areas on the body.

Not Good For Spondylolisthesis and Spondylolysis

It is one thing if someone has a perfectly healthy spine and they do crunches, but for those who suffer from spondylolisthesis or spondylolysis, crunches should be eliminated from their ab exercises to avoid the stress mentioned above. Doing crunches is only throwing fuel on the already burning fire.

The bending movement performed while doing crunches is a position that most spondylolisthesis patients are in daily. Picture the halfway point of a sit up, it is almost identical to a seated position. The flexed hips and rounded back can cause those who suffer from spondylolisthesis additional pain due to the muscles it is affecting.

It is important to combat these positions instead of mimicking them to avoid pain and discomfort.

Less Stressful Ab Exercises

If crunches are not safe, what should be done to strengthen the core?

The answer is to maintain a neutral spine during ab exercises, especially when beginning exercise following diagnoses. A neutral spine is exactly what it sounds like. A nice straight and controlled spine.

Most of the time those who suffer from spondylolisthesis have poor control and strength in the muscles that help to protect and move the spine. When performing multi joint movements these support groups do a poor job and the back takes over. The back isn't conditioned to do these movements and eventually pain sets in.

The goal is to start easy and build up the strength in the supporting areas of the spine. Muscles in your hips, core, and glutes should be targeted.

A very common neutral spine ab exercise is planks, or hovers. Planks are performed by laying on the ground with the elbows directly under the shoulders. The elbows are bent in a 90 degree angle. A bridge is then performed with the entire body being lifted off the ground with the elbows and toes remaining in contact with the ground. The shoulders, hips, and legs should be in a straight line and most importantly, the back is straight. The abdominal muscles are drawn in for support. Start with holding for 15 seconds and progress to 45 seconds to build some much-needed strength.

Planks are just one example of many spondylolisthesis ab exercises that are safe on the spine. Most importantly avoid exercises that cause additional pain.