Degenerative Disk Disease (DDD), What is it?
Degenerative Disk Disease is not a disease, it is a condition. Unfortunately, someone a long time ago attached the word disease after Degenerative Disk in a misguided attempt to quickly describe a set of circumstances where the disks between the vertebrae of the spine begin to degenerate, deform or bulge. Knowing that DDD is not a disease maybe comforting, but none the less, the degeneration of spinal disks can still be a painful, debilitating and difficult to manage for those who have it. What are spinal disks We all have seen a skeleton and noticed a series of bones running up from the pelvic area to the base of the skull called the backbone or spinal column. In a living person, between each spinal bone (vertebrae) is a relatively soft hockey puck like disk that serves as a spacer, shock absorber and gasket between each individual vertebrae. Disk material is cartilage like, but being softer on the inside and firmer at the outside edges. In a healthy person, the spinal disks separate
