How the Spine Changes With Age and When It May Be Degenerative Disc Disease

As the central pillar of your anatomy, the spine supports your body while allowing for a wide range of movement, including bends and twists, all while protecting the spinal cord, your body’s information conduit. 

Getting older takes a toll on your spine, just as it does all other systems in your body. The team at 360 Orthopedics in Sarasota, Venice, and Lakewood Ranch, Florida, wants to tell you about the effects of aging on your spinal health, as well as to dive deep into the most common form of spinal deterioration, called degenerative disc disease. 

Your spine and aging

Directly composed of bones called vertebrae, fibrous gel-filled discs, joint tissue like cartilage and ligaments, and containing blood vessels and nerves, your spine is remarkably complex. While there’s plenty that can go wrong in such a comprehensive structure, most people deal only with occasional, temporary back pain. 

As you get older, time and lifestyle start to wear on the components of the spine. Naturally, you lose natural hydration, particularly in the spinal discs, while the joints of the spine become less flexible and less mobile. 

It may take time every morning to “loosen up.” Back discomfort may be more frequent, or you may be susceptible to conditions like sciatica, in which pressure on nerve tissue causes pain, numbness, or weakness in your back or that radiates to other parts of your body. 

Degenerative disc disease is the most common sign of aging, though it doesn’t cause problems for everyone, even though it’s considered a natural part of aging. 

Degenerative disc disease

Not a disease at all, but rather a condition that describes the drying out and wearing down of the spine’s shock absorbers, degenerative disc disease can lead to a range of back problems, but it doesn’t affect everyone, even when it’s active. 

Discs are susceptible to dehydration that comes with aging. The gel-like interior loses volume while the tougher outer shell becomes more brittle and prone to rupture. 

As discs lose volume, you lose height. This alone doesn’t cause pain symptoms. Virtually everyone has some level of disc degeneration after they pass their 40th birthdays, but only about 5% of them develop related back pain. 

Signs of degenerative disc disease

So, if disc degeneration is a normal part of aging, at what point does it become degenerative disc disease? Largely, it depends on the symptoms disc changes create. 

General aging is gradual and often without symptoms. You may feel older or stiffer, but you’re probably not in a great deal of discomfort or pain. 

Degenerative disc disease is usually defined by symptoms like: 

• Chronic back or neck pain
• Pain that presents when you sit, bend, lift, or exert yourself
• Sensations radiate to locations along a nerve pathway, like sciatica
• You feel sensations like numbness or tingling in your arms, legs, feet, or hands
• You lose strength in your extremities
• Balance becomes a problem as the condition progresses

Find out more about spinal aging and degenerative disc disease by speaking with the neck and spine specialists at 360 Orthopedics. Call our nearest office directly to book your consultation today.