Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
But that’s what it’s called. It’s not like every 34 year old is walking around with it, and certainly not professional athletes.
It’s not some rare and mystical illness, you’re putting that on it.
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DDD is a general catch all term that doesn't really provide the true scope of what's happening in someone's back. It can be used to identify changes in disc height, the presence of disc protrusions, arthritic changes to the facets; structural changes that are visible on imaging and with varying degrees of severity which can be pretty subjective depending on the observer. However, the presence of degenerative discs does not necessarily correlate to low back pain. There have been quite a few studies that indicate asymptomatic people (those without symptoms) will present with DDD on MR imaging (rough numbers 1/3 in the 20s, 1/2 in the 30-40 age group, gets higher percentage wise as you get older). There's also an argument in the research that there needs to be more study and understanding of the pathogenesis and pain mechanism around DDD to determine why some individuals develop pain with DDD and others don't.
As I stated earlier, my issue is with the headlines of him retiring due to DDD. As if the mere diagnosis was the only reason he is retiring. No, he's retiring because his back hurts and is probably pretty beat up after many years in the league. In a society that is looking for the next big fear inducing diagnosis, I don't think the media is doing anyone favours when they are stating he is retiring due to DDD.