Whether in your neck or back, you’re dealing with pain that’s frustrating and limiting. On top of that, you may have pain, weakness, or numbness in your legs or arms. These symptoms might sideline you from activities you enjoy or disrupt your daily routine.
At UVA Health, we understand how hard living with degenerative disc disease can be. Our spine care experts offer a wide range of treatments to ease your pain and get you back to your regular life.
Degenerative Disc Disease Treatment at UVA Health
Most people don’t need surgery for degenerative disc disease. At UVA Health, we offer many nonsurgical options, like physical therapy, injections, and more. Read about spine care without surgery.
Surgery for Degenerative Disc Disease
If nonsurgical options don’t bring enough relief, you may need surgery to fix the root cause. We may perform 1 or both of these procedures at the same time.
- Discectomy is a surgery to remove a damaged disc. Discs act as “shock absorbers” between the bones of your spine. In some cases, we replace the disc with an artificial one.
- Spinal fusion stabilizes your spine by joining (fusing) 2 or more spine bones (vertebra). We use bone from a donor or another part of your body (a bone graft). The bones fuse as they heal the same way a broken bone heals back together.
Our expert surgeons have extra training in minimally invasive spine surgery. That means a faster recovery with less pain. Some surgeries help us avoid cutting through muscle. We also use smaller cuts (incisions).
Sometimes, we use a spinal implant during fusion surgery. This helps stabilize the spine. We use custom implants to fit your spine’s specific shape, like the aprevo device. This gives you a faster recovery and reduces your risk of complications.