Hi Freinds,
I am new to this board, find it very helping & a nice effort to bring people from all walks of life with similar problems under one roof.
Freinds need some advice from you all!
I am 28yrs old & had back pain since 3-4yrs,previously was given some PT & & was advised to some streching exercises on my own,never took any kind of medication so far.All these years i suffered from stiff back to mild back pains.Recently we moved to another house & in middle of all shifting & lifting i got pian in my left leg too that i knew is the sign of things getting worse.Saw a ortho surgeon,MRI was ordered & it results says as follows:
""L3-4 & L4-5 discogenic disease with an L4-5 broad-based disc protrusion/annular fissure that results in mild acquired central canal stenosis in the setting of a congenitally small canal.""
Was told by my Doc that no surgery is required at this time & now on i have to be careful with my activities.just asked me to be carefull & come to him if i get severe pain in leg or some other symptoms.He said this some genetic defect passed on through my parents though my parents dont have any history of back problems.
Do any one of you have this kind of disease? if so were doese it leads to in the end i suppose there is no cure for this, its kind of arthritis, doc said it happens to all people when they get older but for me its happening earlier its like i am 30 & my spine is already 40.
I will really appriciate your advice on this.
Best Regards
Panky

Hi Panky,

Degenerative Disc Disease is a bummer and I'm sorry to hear about all of your pain. I am 24 and have had back pain for over two years with surgery on one level for a herniated disc two years ago this February. Three specialists have told me that at 24 my spine looks like it is 70. Like you, my first question is how? My current surgeon (who is excellent and I highly respect) basically said that he thinks there is something abnormal about the collagen in the discs that is causing them to degenerate at a rapid rate. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot of research about the chemical breakdown or causes of degeneration (especially in young folks like us) because the spine is kind of a difficult area to test.

That being said, the best thing that I have found for my back are the stupid little exercises that I hate to do but they really do seem to work. Discs are "fed" and provided fluid by movement in the spine. This is how they get their nourishment. However, when I do too much and things get inflamed I have found that walking slowly and avoiding sitting too long (really for any time at all-- I try to limit it to only 5-10 minutes at a time).

As far as a cure, from what I understand, the disc eventually "dies" meaning that it will eventually become de-sensitized and you won't feel pain from it. From what my surgeon explained, mother nature will kick in and attempt to heal the spine like your body would heal any other injury. He said that even though degenerative makes it sound like it is just going to get worse and worse, it actually will get better as the disc becomes more de-sensitized. It's just a matter of being careful and pain management until mother nature can catch up with all of it. Right now I'm wishing Mother Nature would speed it up a little, but I guess that is not up to me. :)

I hope that some of this helps and if you have any other questions please feel free to ask and I will share my experiences thus far. Everyday seems to be a new adventure.

Hope you feel better soon,
Ribbit

Hi Rabbit,
It was really nice to hear from you, the info provided by you is really helpfull & i already feel better :)
I guess for now i have to stick to exercises & be very careful with my spine so that i can keep it flexible for longtime.My doc has not adviced any surgery as according to him there are no herniated disc or any other fracture.
How did you get herniated disc was it some injury or indcident? & whats your present condition?
Can you tell me what kind of exercise are you following? though i am due to meet PT next week still wanna be extra carefull now Prevention is better then cure specially when cure is going under the knife:)
I hope best of your health
Regards
Panky

Hi panky,

Well, my current condition is kind of complicated. I actually have three herniations in my lumbar back with severe degeneration in them as well. Only one was herniated so extremely that it needed surgery (I had become 60% paralized in my right leg). At the time that all this was found (when I was 22) I was working on a rehabilitation with stroke and spinal cord patients while I was going to school to ironically become a physical therapist. (Needless to say that goal has been put off for a while.) There wasn't one incident that happened, the pain kind of came over time and then exploded. To complicate things I had to have hip surgery 8 months after the back surgery for torn cartilege and they ended up having to remove 1/2the labrum. Now, my other hip may be affected as well. I really don't know what is happening, and the doctor's seem to be confused as well. Some of the doctor's have mentioned that there may be some autoimmune disorder going on that is attacking the ligament/tissue parts of my body.?.?.

Anyway, to get back on track, one of the main things I have noticed about doing exercises is that they may not feel good while I'm doing them (but shouldn't be extremely painful either) or I may not feel so good that day, but over time with consistence I start feeling better and better. I have to say, because I start feeling better, sometimes I forget to continue because I'm excited to be able to have some pain free time and then the pain comes back. So the moral that I've learned: consistence is good. When I am having a "rough time" when pain is more than at other times I do basic things such as making sure I walk on a treadmill at least 10-15 minutes a day, mild stretching, abdominal strengthing such as pelvic tilts (which can be done at any time of the day anywhere) pelvic lifts, etc... You can do an internet search on exercises to help strengthen the low back and lots of sites have pictures that will show you exactly what to do. Your PT will probably give you pictures as well. I did water aerobics for a while and although it was hard to make the time... it helped tremendously! I highly recommend it. Not only did it help with my beck it was fun too.

Another thing to consider is maybe checking to see if the PT you are going to visit specializes in back pain. I have seen different physical therapists and am seeing one right now who only works with back patients and she is excellent.

Well, I hope this helps and that you have a great first visit with the PT next week. Be careful, but no too careful that your back doesn't get the movement it needs and feeds off of. :)

Best of luck,
Ribbit

Hi Ribbit,
sorry for not replying early, was busy visiting doc's:) saw dentist alergy spl. & PT & all of them have to say something or other is wrong coz of genes:)from nose to teeth :)
I guess lot of things are going on with you at same time, but also i can feel you got strong will power to get on with them so hang on & everything will be fine!
Thanks for that exercise advice & i think i came so far coz my previous PT had given me some streching exercises but then i was never diagnosed with this desease.
Anyway i saw PT yesterday she was nice dunno whether she specialises in back only or not but i wil find out.She asked me tons of questions:) in the end As you told she gave some pictures & told me how to bend & all precautions to take, she said to take one thing at a time & do exercise slowly. She even asked me to go back to gym if i want to, which i stoped sometime ago, & told to use machines only. About water aerobics she asked to wait & watch for some time & take things slowly.
It appears from your post that after undergoing all surgeries you have come to know a lot about your back, can you please tell me what happens as the desease progresses, as so far i dont have consistant pain just stiff back & pain in hips & legs is gone, but as the doc said in layman terms discs are loosing water so if they keep going like this where do it leads & when comes in the surgery.
Also i wanna suggest you something for your body while going thru all this i know its pretty pain full try to meditate for sometime I have heard it increases the immune power of the body otherwise too it makes us mentally strong ready for anything, i try to do it but so far no success i am able to do it for 5-10 mins only but after that it breaks up but i feel more very nice all over, just give it a try!
I hope you return to good health very soon:)
Regards
Panky