Degenerative lower back

[yorkiepud]

Anyone any ideas what this actually means? I've visited my main doctor today to review some MRI results and xray's after seeing a neurosurgeon two weeks ago. The findings of the MRI showed a herniation so a neuro appointment was booked to discuss if the herniation was impinging on nerves. The herniation isn't but I walked away knowing less from the appointment than when I went in.

Todays appointment still hasn't given me any idea as to what on earth is going on in my back other than it hurts theres a herniation at l5-s2 which is degenerative and the doc basically when pushed as I need to fill in paperwork for manual handling purposes at work, said I had a "degenerative lower back". Not helpful at all when googling to work out what this actually means as theres very little on the grounRAB of this. I do know from the neuro appointment that the was degeneration at the l5-s1 disc.

If anyone can help it would be really appreciated, I'm a 32 yo female struggling to work out why and how I'm in so much pain, not to mention how I actually deal with this (though am going to try PT next) as its affecting my vocation.

I've no idea what if any excercise I can do, I don't know really if what I do within my job is good or worse bad for my back. I don't even know how long this will last, ie is it a short term thing, is this it am I destined to get worse?

Thanks in advance. I know, noone can give me the whole answer I'm looking for, but a small amount of assistance would be awesome.

 

[ibake&pray]

Confusing isn't it? I odn't know how much help I can give, but here goes. Degenerative back disease means that your back is slowly breaking down. The fact that you have a herniated disc is a good example of things that can happen.

A herniation can hopefully be resolved with injections, and with some physical therapy. If that fails the other option would be surgery. What type would be up to you and your doctor.

Google DDD-Degerative Disc Disease. That might give you a little more information-which is the entire back, not just lower. Hope this helps.

 

[SpineAZ]

As we get older all of us have degenerative changes in our back to some degree. Those who have heavier jobs, suffer accidents, or have existing spine abnormalities can have a faster degeneration of the discs. Do you have a copy of the exact MRI findings? Be sure to get one so you can see what it says. Often it will indicate how much of a change is at L5-S1 and the adjacent levels, they'll use terms like mild, moderate, or severe in many cases.