Anterior Degenerative Disc Disease

Anterior degenerative disc disease is not actually a disease. It encompasses a number of symptoms that result from a damaged disc and starts affecting people in their 30s. Treatments depend on the severity of your condition and other factors.

Causes

• The discs contain a jelly-like substance that helps absorb shock. As you age, this filling begins to dry up, which increases the risk for disc damage. Other factors include the normal aging process; by age 60 most people have some degree of degeneration and injuries.

Symptoms

• The type and severity of symptoms vary depending on the degree of damage. They include feeling more pain when seated and less when moving, pain in the lower back and neck, and pain and numbness in the arms, hands, feet and legs if nerve damage exists.

Educating Yourself

• Emedicine, which serves as a clinical reference for the medical community, suggests "back school," a program that teaches sufferers about back anatomy, their condition and how to manage it. Your doctor can give you more information.

Nonsurgical Treatments

• Nonsurgical treatments include working with a physical therapist who can show you exercises, as well as provide pain relief treatments, medications like steroid injections, pain relievers, and muscle relaxers and relaxation techniques.

Surgical Repair

• Emedicine indicates that about 5 percent of people with this condition require surgery. Several different procedures address this condition, and the one you undergo will depend on several factors, such as the location of the damaged disc, the presence of other spine problems like spinal stenosis, the presence of nerve damage and the extent of the damage, among other things.