Anyone in here have it? I’m 32, been diagnosed with mild DDD in L3-S1 discs. Was wondering if anyone in here has something similar and how they cope and deal day to day. Currently have zero pain, going to try and workout more and stretch, yoga and see how I respond over the next year

Inversion table to stretch the vertebrae and hopefully let more Cerebrospinal fluid get in there. I do Jiu Jitsu and invert due to all the spinal compression

Its usually clinically (=in practice) irrelevant and a lot of asymptomatic people may have similar findings. Its questionable to label it a sickness/condition because it seems to inevitably occur in a lot of people and if theres no symptoms, there will be no need for intervention. Continue with your normal activities as long as you dont feel pain, maybe at most leave the heaviest deadlifts and squats to pros. Yoga, stretching and other types of maintenance exercise are very good, but these should be recommended for everyone anyway. See a doc if your back pain goes permanently worse, or if you get symptoms anywhere below your waist.

How

How would one avoid DDD? I'm steering clear of heavy squats/deadlifts. Where is the danger zone? 2x bodyweight? 3x bodyweight? Or bad technique all that is needed?

Its not necessarily avoidable. Like i said its probably even normal and often comes with age to a lot of people. Sometimes people have back pain that probably isnt even related to disc degeneration. Unless really severe, meaning you barely have any spinal discs left, it doesnt really matter. Once it becomes severe it usually starts aching and making symptoms.

The best you can do is quit smoking if you do, its actually linked to disc problems, and generally just avoid major injury (like actually breaking your spine or herniating a disc during a lift, smaller injuries dont matter much). Perhaps not not aim for deads/squats much over 440lbs/200kg as a general rule. You probably can still do even those but i personally think in terms of health nobody needs to deadlift over 400 lbs. I wouldnt worry too much about whether it progresses or not because theres a risk youll start to be too careful with it and thats not good either. If you feel fine its good enough.

This post was edited by Neptunus on Mar 12 2023 04:06am

My dad got DDD and a fused spine, but he was heavy on wrestling when he was younger and then abandoned all sports basically during his adulthood. He doesn't smoke and never did.

I don't smoke either, doing casual weight training, not competitive, just to keep myself sharp and in shape.

I'm worried that I'm susceptible to it even though I dont have issues with my back / didnt get hernias / injuries. Would be nice not to be a broken husk by the time I'm 50-60+.

Weight training is the only thing that clears the brain fog for me. Running/ yoga/ workouts dont really do it.

If youre susceptible to it theres not much we know you can do apart from the things i mentioned earlier and staying in overall shape (like eating healthy, avoiding sat fats, blood pressure etc). Weight training in general is good for your back anyway and if it advances you will have good muscles to support you. Just dont try to go for powerlifter weights. Im sure you can find something to clear the brain for you, its just probably not yoga/etc. Calisthenics are good too and theres plenty you can do to strengthen your back without having to resort to massive weights.

I wouldnt worry about the DDD too much at this stage. Its on the spectrum of natural aging, just that some people have more of it. Fearing it and becoming excessively avoidant towards certain activities is what can paradoxically worsen it. Like i said just do the normal lifting you wanna do but maybe leave the regular 5 plate squats and deads to those who really wanna compete at it or the pros. Think about it later if you start getting some symptoms because we have no way of predicting whose DDD progresses and whose doesnt, we only know some statistical trends about it.

This post was edited by Neptunus on Mar 13 2023 02:52pm

I have it. Just be careful and make intentional controlled movements.

I've had 2 surgeries on my back and a fusion was done in the second surgery.

I don't have it but I have a friend that does, and unfortunately he does have pain with it. He doesn't deadlift at all and does back extensions instead, but that's just his personal preference (and his DDD is probably more severe than yours). If you still want to squat and deadlift, maybe keep the volume down too (not just the weight itself)

everyone gets it, just focus on paraspinal lower back muscle strengthening and you be aite