Degenerative disc disease describes progressive loss of disc height, hydration, and structural integrity occurring with age. Imaging findings include disc space narrowing, desiccation, endplate changes, and osteophyte formation.
It is extremely common in adults over forty and frequently asymptomatic.
Alternative Names:
DDD, Spinal Degeneration
Why it Matters?
Degenerative findings are the defense's principal alternative causation argument in spinal injury cases, and their prevalence is well documented in the literature. The plaintiff response is the eggshell plaintiff doctrine and aggravation of a preexisting condition, which concedes the degeneration while attributing symptom onset to the incident. That framing usually shifts the dispute from whether to how much, making prior treatment records the decisive evidence.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Does degenerative disease defeat an injury claim?
How common are degenerative findings?
