If you have been told you have degenerative disc disease and you are weighing your options, our team in Eden Prairie can help. We focus on what is actually driving your pain, then build a coordinated plan to address it.
Degenerative Disc Disease: what to expect and why it happens.
Disc degeneration shows up on imaging of many people with no pain at all. The pain is usually driven by surrounding muscle tension, movement patterns, and joint mechanics.
DDD-related pain most commonly shows up as back pain. It can be dull and aching, sharp with certain movements, or accompanied by stiffness.
DDD-related pain almost always has more than one thing driving it. At Wellspring, your team looks at all of it together.
Evaluates the root cause. Orders imaging or diagnostic testing when appropriate. Ensures your treatment plan has a solid medical foundation before hands-on care begins.
Manual therapy, movement retraining, and targeted exercise to restore function and reduce pain. Your PT team works with you through every exercise. Identifies and corrects the muscle imbalances and movement patterns contributing to your pain.
Targeted, therapeutic work designed to address the soft tissue tension and restriction that contributes to your pain. Coordinated with your PT plan. 60-minute sessions using deep tissue and hot stone techniques.
The goal is to address what is causing the pain.
Not necessarily. Many people with DDD never need surgery. Conservative care can often manage pain and preserve function for years, in some cases for life. A surgical opinion makes more sense when conservative care has been given a fair trial and significant function or quality of life is still being lost. Your evaluation will help you understand where you are on that spectrum.
Yes. While PT does not change the disc itself, it directly addresses the muscle imbalances, movement patterns, and joint mechanics that turn disc changes into ongoing pain. Many DDD patients see significant improvement in pain and function with consistent team-based care.
Imaging shows structure. Pain is influenced by structure, but also by muscle tension, movement patterns, nerve sensitivity, sleep, and many other factors. Many people with imaging that looks identical to yours have no pain at all. That is not a fluke. It is a real and important fact in modern pain care.
No. Avoiding movement tends to make DDD pain worse, not better. The right exercise, paced and progressed correctly, protects the spine and reduces pain over time. Your PT team will help you figure out what to do, what to modify, and what to skip for now.
Related but not the same. A herniated disc is when part of a disc bulges or extrudes. DDD describes broader degenerative changes over time. Both can cause similar pain and both often respond to the same kind of conservative care. Your evaluation will clarify what is going on with your specific situation.
No. You do not need imaging before your first visit. If imaging would be helpful to clarify your diagnosis, your nurse practitioner can order it as part of your care.
A free consultation is the first step. No referral needed.