Treating Scoliosis in Adults: What You Need to Know
If you think scoliosis is only a condition teenagers get, think again. Adults can develop scoliosis, too, and the symptoms often become more noticeable with age. Here's what you should know.
Plagued by Degenerative Disc Disease? Here’s What Your Treatment Plan May Include
If you’ve been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease (DDD), you may assume your next step depends on how “bad” your spine looks on an MRI.
It’s not quite that simple.
Spinal discs naturally change with age, and not everyone with disc degeneration experiences significant symptoms. When problems do develop, the degeneration may affect people in very different ways. You might have a persistent ache and stiffness, while someone else develops nerve compression, radiating pain, numbness, weakness, or spinal instability.
That’s why at McNulty Spine, Dr. Patrick McNulty doesn’t treat an MRI. He treats the problems your degenerative disc disease is causing and builds your treatment plan around your specific needs.
Here’s what that plan may include.
Starting with conservative care
Degenerative disc disease doesn’t automatically mean you need spine surgery. When appropriate, Dr. McNulty typically starts with conservative treatments designed to relieve symptoms, improve movement, and help you stay active.
Your plan may include anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and changes to activities or habits that place unnecessary stress on your spine. Improving posture and avoiding prolonged sitting may also help reduce strain and potentially slow further degeneration.
Depending on your condition, chiropractic care may also play a role.
Targeting the source of your pain
Sometimes conservative measures aren’t enough, or your symptoms point to a more specific pain generator.
Dr. McNulty may recommend targeted pain management treatments such as spinal or joint injections, nerve blocks, or radiofrequency ablation. These treatments don’t reverse disc degeneration. Instead, they address specific sources of pain associated with changes in the spine.
That distinction matters because DDD can create a cascade of problems. As discs lose height and function, stress may shift to other spinal structures, joints may become irritated, and nerves may become compressed.
Identifying which structure actually causes your symptoms helps Dr. McNulty choose treatment more precisely.
Considering spinal cord stimulation for chronic pain
For certain patients with persistent chronic pain, spinal cord stimulation may offer another option when more conservative treatments haven’t provided adequate relief.
A spinal cord stimulator uses mild electrical impulses to modify pain signals before they reach your brain. Before committing to an implanted device, you first undergo a temporary trial to see how well the therapy works for you.
Not everyone with degenerative disc disease needs or qualifies for spinal cord stimulation, but for carefully selected patients, it may provide meaningful relief without more extensive spine surgery.
Addressing structural problems when necessary
Sometimes disc degeneration creates a structural problem that conservative care can’t adequately correct.
A severely damaged disc may contribute to instability, nerve compression, spinal stenosis, or other changes that significantly affect your mobility and quality of life.
When surgery offers the best path forward, Dr. McNulty may consider options such as artificial disc replacement, spinal fusion, or more complex spinal reconstruction, depending on your condition.
Artificial disc replacement removes a damaged disc and replaces it with an implant designed to preserve motion at that level of the spine.
Spinal fusion takes a different approach, stabilizing two or more vertebrae so they heal together as one solid structure. For patients with more extensive degeneration, deformity, or instability, Dr. McNulty may recommend a more comprehensive reconstruction.
The right choice depends on your anatomy, symptoms, neurological function, overall health, and long-term goals.
Your MRI is only part of the story
Two people can have similar-looking MRI scans and need completely different treatments. That’s why Dr. McNulty combines advanced imaging with a detailed physical and neurological examination and, most importantly, listens carefully to your symptoms.
Where does it hurt? Does the discomfort travel into an arm or leg? Are you experiencing numbness or weakness? What activities have become difficult? Which treatments have you already tried?
The answers help determine not only what is happening in your spine, but whether those changes actually explain what you’re experiencing.
Your treatment should fit your spine and your life
You can’t turn back the clock on natural disc degeneration, but that doesn’t mean you have to accept chronic pain or declining function as an inevitable part of getting older.
At McNulty Spine, Dr. McNulty offers a broad spectrum of care, from conservative and interventional treatments to advanced minimally invasive procedures, artificial disc replacement, fusion, and complex spinal reconstruction.
That range matters. Rather than fitting every patient into the same treatment pathway, he can recommend the level of care that makes sense for your particular spine.
If degenerative disc disease is interfering with the way you move, work, sleep, or enjoy your life, request an appointment online or call McNulty Spine in Las Vegas, Nevada, to schedule an evaluation. Together, you and Dr. McNulty can determine what’s causing your symptoms and which treatment options offer the best path forward.
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