We have an image of a spine showing different disc conditions in the spine so why don’t we take that we could show this to our viewers and doctor walk us through us why don’t we go from top to bottom sure a normal disc is nice and tall the inner part of the disc is maintained by that shiny blue stripe which represents the outer part of the disc of the annulus the generative disc is a part of sort of a normal aging cascade where the our wall of the disc thins and develops those fissures like a dry cracked lip a bulging disc is actually part of the degenerative cascade think of a disc like a jelly doughnut a little cushion in between that’s exactly right and with time the inner part the gelatinous part will diminish in size is it inevitable it just happens to all of us it happens to all of us in in various degrees but when the outer wall thins the disc starts to bulge you look as if you stepped on a jelly doughnut and then if you think this to the next step if you step on a jelly doughnut with enough pressure the jelly will sneak out and that’s the next one the herniated disk where the red in the back of the disc represents the actual herniation and usually touches the nerve and produces pain that goes down the butt thigh leg or even foot thinning disc is sort of the end point of this degeneration and when there’s osteophyte formation that means that your body is trying to do its own fusion so what we call arthritis the radiographic finding of flow is bone over growing the spine that’s your body trying to do a spinal fusion for a disc that’s beyond repair something that takes years to develop or can be done overnight and patients that are really suffering and just can’t take it you