Degenerative Discs in Scottsdale, AZ
Ready to get started?
Contact UsWhat is Degenerative Disc Disease?
Degenerative disc disease isn't truly a disease and almost everyone develops degenerated discs as they age. When the discs leak, people often experience pain and numbness. If there are no leaks, there are no symptoms. Nearly every degenerated disc begins as a single annular tear. The tear progressively worsens to become multiple disc tears, and then finally escalates into disc degeneration.
Almost every MRI and CT study finds that everyone over the age of 60 has some disc degeneration.
Disc degeneration often leads to chronic back pain and loss of disc height as discs continue collapsing. As regenerative medicine continues to advance in its treatment for spinal conditions such as degenerative disc disease, often physicians are looking to biologics such as stem cells, bone marrow concentrate, and platelet-rich plasma to treat the degenerated discs. The problem these treatments face in the spinal discs is that once the annulus of the disc is compromised, the biologic being injected will not stay in the target treatment area due to the disc leaking. Treatments such as The Discseel® Procedure effectively seal the compromised tears in the disc annulus allowing for the body to recover from within.
Intradiscal therapies directed to the treatment of the disc itself, which seal and regenerate the disc, represent a potential cure to these debilitating conditions.
Problems
The symptoms of degenerative disc disease are concentrated in the lower back, but can occur anywhere there is degeneration. They include:
- Mild to severe pain
- Pain that radiates to the buttocks and thighs
- Pain that is worse when sitting, bending, lifting, or twisting
- Pain that is better when changing positions frequently
- Periods of varying pain, from a few days to a few months
- Numbness in the extremities
- Weakness in leg muscles or feet
- Muscle spasms or tension
- Loss of balance
One can see that there is a wide range of symptoms associated with degenerative disc disease. Despite all these, there are methods of treatment available to those who seek it.
Causes
The causes behind this condition are considered a natural part of aging. However, the condition is variable in its nature and severity with many individuals never experiencing any symptoms. Several factors can be considered to play a role:
- The daily activities you do, including sports.
- Back injuries stemming from sports, overdoing it, etc.
- The natural degeneration of a disc
Treatment for Degenerative Disc Disease
There are only 2 Phases of the Discseel® Procedure:
- The disc is sealed and recovering
- The disc regenerates over the year
Before you can get treated for degenerative disc disease, you must first be diagnosed. If you are coming here with the diagnosis, you are one step ahead! We simply want to inform you of the safest practice. A diagnosis can be obtained from your doctor with a medical history, a physical exam, and certain forms of imaging test, which is usually an MRI. From here the treatment options are explored.
All standard treatments for degenerative discs consist of some measure of exercise or physical therapy to increase the strength and flexibility of the muscles around the spine. This increases the already stifled blood flow to the spine as well. Other treatments include Medication (anti-inflammatory, pain relievers, steroid injections, spinal fusion, artificial disc replacement, heat and cold therapy, spinal mobilization(s), and TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation).
Although some of these procedures have had success treating some if not all symptoms of degenerative disc disease, the Discseel® Procedure has consistently outperformed the aforementioned protocols and is often significantly less invasive, has a much shorter recovery time, and allows patients a greater range of motion than a spinal fusion, discectomy, and artificial disc replacement. The Discseel® Procedure prompts the patient's body to heal itself without the use of metal hardware or removal of tissue and has a low risk of long-term complications and opioid dependency.
What Are the Benefits of Degenerative Disc Treatment?
While discs commonly degenerate as we age, worsening degeneration over time can produce life-altering pain. At Southwest Spine and Sports, we proudly offer the Discseel Procedure to treat and potentially regenerate discs. Benefits of this treatment include:
- Minimally invasive treatments and speedy recovery
- Pain relief
- Avoiding surgery and its risks
- Restoring disc function and enabling better movement
- The potential for long-lasting results
Videos
Degenerated Disc Disease
Herniated Disc
Spinal Stenosis
Repair Discs Without Surgery
At Southwest Spine and Sports, we proudly offer the Discseel procedure for treating degenerative discs. This is a wonderful treatment because it is far less invasive than traditional therapies and has shown to be effective in regenerating and repairing troublesome disc(s). If you are bothered by disc pain and want to learn more about Discseel, we welcome you to contact our team in Scottsdale, AZ.
Degenerative Discs FAQs
Is degenerative disc disease really a disease?
Does a degenerative disc always lead to pain?
How is degenerative disc disease diagnosed?
Related Conditions
Learn More About Southwest Spine & Sports
About UsSouthwest Spine & Sports Reviews
Southwest Spine & Sports provides excellent care in a friendly environment. Dr. Wolff has enabled me to stay on the job and fully productive, despite my degenerative disc disease.
Dr. Wolff is an outstanding physician, and I cannot recommend him highly enough. He has spent the last 10 years researching and developing effective non-surgical alternative treatments for degenerative disc disease (DDD) and you owe it to yourself to hear about his approach before getting spine surgery. I was diagnosed with DDD in early 2022. One surgeon I saw wanted to do a minimally invasive decompression (MILD) at two levels and another wanted to do a much more aggressive two-level fusion. Before I went under the knife, I did some research online into alternative options and that is where I discovered Dr. Wolf and his significantly less radical approach to treating the disease. I set up a tele-medicine appointment and met with Dr. Wolf after he reviewed my MRI. He explained his approach using easy to understand language. He said that he had been working on alternative treatments whereby he injects a sealant into the outer ring of the disc, to seal any ruptures, and then injects the inside of the discs with exosomes (derived from stem cells) to stimulate regeneration of the disc itself. He spent 45 minutes with me explaining the procedure and did not end the call until all of my questions were answered. He told me that he would never over promise as to the results I could expect, and in fact he said that he would rather under-promise, and over deliver on the results. That is exactly what he did! It has now been 3 months since I had the procedure, and the results are kicking in. Prior to the injections I experienced pain when walking and standing even for brief periods of time. I can now walk twice as far as I could without being in pain and stand for twice as long. I had given up my hobbies of hiking and cooking due to the pain, but because of this treatment I am back to doing both. That is exactly the outcome I was looking for. And Dr. Wolff says that I can probably expect further improvement over the next 3 months. I cannot begin to thank Dr. Wolff and his excellent staff (especially his nurse Callie) for giving me my life back.
Dr. Wolff is an outstanding physician, and I cannot recommend him highly enough. He has spent the last 10 years researching and developing effective non-surgical alternative treatments for degenerative disc disease (DDD) and you owe it to yourself to hear about his approach before getting spine surgery. He spent 45 minutes with me explaining his procedure and did not end the call until all of my questions were answered. He told me that he would never over promise as to the results I could expect, and in fact he said that he would rather under-promise, and over deliver on the results. That is exactly what he did! It has now been 3 months since I had the procedure, and the results are kicking in. Prior to the injections I experienced pain when walking and standing even for brief periods of time. I can now walk twice as far as I could without being in pain and stand for twice as long. I had given up my hobbies of hiking and cooking due to the pain, but now I can do both.
Dr. Wolff is an outstanding physician, and I cannot recommend him highly enough. He has spent the last 10 years researching and developing effective non-surgical alternative treatments for degenerative disc disease (DDD) and you owe it to yourself to hear about his approach before getting spine surgery. I was diagnosed with DDD in early 2022. One surgeon I saw wanted to do a minimally invasive decompression (MILD) at two levels and another wanted to do a much more aggressive two-level fusion. Before I went under the knife, I did some research online into alternative options and that is where I discovered Dr. Wolf and his significantly less radical approach to treating the disease. I set up a tele-medicine appointment and met with Dr. Wolf after he reviewed my MRI. He explained his approach using easy to understand language. He said that he had been working on alternative treatments whereby he injects a sealant into the outer ring of the disc, to seal any ruptures, and then injects the inside of the discs with exosomes (derived from stem cells) to stimulate regeneration of the disc itself. He spent 45 minutes with me explaining the procedure and did not end the call until all of my questions were answered. He told me that he would never over promise as to the results I could expect, and in fact he said that he would rather under-promise, and over deliver on the results. That is exactly what he did! It has now been 3 months since I had the procedure, and the results are kicking in. Prior to the injections I experienced pain when walking and standing even for brief periods of time. I can now walk twice as far as I could without being in pain and stand for twice as long. I had given up my hobbies of hiking and cooking due to the pain, but because of this treatment I am back to doing both. That is exactly the outcome I was looking for. And Dr. Wolff says that I can probably expect further improvement over the next 3 months. I cannot begin to thank Dr. Wolff and his excellent staff (especially his nurse Callie) for giving me my life back.
Dr. Wolff is an outstanding physician, and I cannot recommend him highly enough. He has spent the last 10 years researching and developing effective non-surgical alternative treatments for degenerative disc disease (DDD) and you owe it to yourself to hear about his approach before getting spine surgery. I was diagnosed with DDD in early 2022. One surgeon I saw wanted to do a minimally invasive decompression (MILD) at two levels and another wanted to do a much more aggressive two-level fusion. Before I went under the knife, I did some research online into alternative options and that is where I discovered Dr. Wolf and his significantly less radical approach to treating the disease. I set up a tele-medicine appointment and met with Dr. Wolf after he reviewed my MRI. He explained his approach using easy to understand language. He said that he had been working on alternative treatments whereby he injects a sealant into the outer ring of the disc, to seal any ruptures, and then injects the inside of the discs with exosomes (derived from stem cells) to stimulate regeneration of the disc itself. He spent 45 minutes with me explaining the procedure and did not end the call until all of my questions were answered. He told me that he would never over promise as to the results I could expect, and in fact he said that he would rather under-promise, and over deliver on the results. That is exactly what he did! It has now been 3 months since I had the procedure, and the results are kicking in. Prior to the injections I experienced pain when walking and standing even for brief periods of time. I can now walk twice as far as I could without being in pain and stand for twice as long. I had given up my hobbies of hiking and cooking due to the pain, but because of this treatment I am back to doing both. That is exactly the outcome I was looking for. And Dr. Wolff says that I can probably expect further improvement over the next 3 months. I cannot begin to thank Dr. Wolff and his excellent staff (especially his nurse Callie) for giving me my life back.
6
Total Reviews
4.9
Average Rating
