What is the best treatment for degenerative disc disease?
Movement.
Now, DDD is actually really common and it’s just a normal part of aging. The imaging findings that lead to this diagnosis of DDD is going to be highly prevalent in populations 50 and older. It progressively changes as we get older.
DDD really isn’t a disease, and I wish that the medical terminology was changed on this.
Yes, it is true that people with more “findings” on imaging tend to have more pain, however it doesn’t mean that one specific thing (that we can identify), is the pain driver itself.
Pain itself is complex and there are many factors that go into this including, sleep, physical activity levels, stress, social engagement, etc.