Degenerative disc disease symptoms will depend on the location of the degenerated disc. The spine is divided into three different segments: cervical, thoracic, and lumbar. The degenerative disc disease symptoms vary between these segments.

Cervical Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms

Cervical degenerative disc disease symptoms can be characterized by neck pain/discomfort. It is generally most common when you are upright or moving your head. The pain/discomfort can be reduced when you are lying down or reclining.

  • Low-grade pain in the neck
  • Stiff/inflexible neck
  • Numbness in neck, arms, or shoulders
  • Tingling in neck, arms, or shoulders
  • Weakness in neck, arms, or shoulders
  • Headaches

If the cervical degeneration of the disc is associated with osteophytes (bone spurs), movement may be reduced even more. This can also lead to nerve compression. When the nerves are affected, this is when you could experience the numbness, tingling, and weakness in the neck, arms, and/or shoulders.

Thoracic Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms

This form of degenerative disc disease is located in the mid section of your spine and is not as common as cervical or lumbar degenerative disc disease. This is because your mid-back does not bend or flex as often as the vertebrae in your neck or lower back. Therefore, there is less stress placed up the thoracic discs.

However, it is possible to develop this disease here and will often manifest as bone spurs or a herniated disc. When this occurs, you could develop the following symptoms:

  • Pain when twisting
  • Muscle spasms
  • Slumped posture
  • Bowel or bladder dysfunction

While degenerative disc disease symptoms generally occur due to the aging process, you could also develop symptoms due to genetics, injury, trauma, or illness.

Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms

Lumbar degenerative disc disease symptoms can be characterized as low back pain. The pain will typically be more severe when sitting. However, standing for a long length of time and walking can also be painful. Pain when bending and lifting can also be an indication. Symptoms include:

  • Pain/discomfort in lower back
  • Stiffness in lower back
  • Burning from buttock and lower back down the leg
  • Numbness from buttock and lower back down the leg
  • Tingling from buttock and lower back down the leg

The burning, numbness, and tingling from the buttock and lower back down the leg are all indicators that the nerves are being affected. This is also called radiculopathy.

Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms – Chronic Pain vs. Acute Pain

It is important to understand that the pain you feel is not an accurate indicator as to how much damage has been done to the disc. In fact, discs that are severely damaged may not produce very much pain at all and discs with just a little degeneration may produce severe and even debilitating pain.

  • Acute Pain – This type of pain generally lasts less than 3 to 6 months. This type of pain is usually directly related to tissue damage. The longer the pain exists, the more likely it is to develop into chronic pain.
  • Chronic Pain – This type of pain generally lasts more than 3 to 6 months or longer than after the healing of tissue. Chronic pain is usually less directly related to the tissue damage and structural problems. Sometimes the source of the pain cannot be identified since it can continue on after the tissue has healed.

Degenerative disc disease symptoms are important in helping a physician determine what types of tests will need to be performed.

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