Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms

The typical symptoms of degenerative disc disease (DDD) are persistent lumbar back pain and/or acute sciatica. Some people discover they have worn intervertebral discs during routine scans and feel no pain, while in our experience, up to 10% suffer severe symptoms which continue to get worse, have a detrimental effect on quality of life, and require surgical intervention.

Key Facts

Main symptoms: Persistent lumbar back pain and acute sciatica
Common triggers: Often worsened by prolonged sitting, bending, and lifting
What helps: Gentle movement and regular position changes are often provide more relief than rest. Crouching down to stretch the lumbar spine can also help
Flare-ups: Can last days to weeks and often settle without intervention

Symptoms of Degenerative Disc Disease

Lower Back Symptoms

Most people feel a deep, ongoing ache in their lower back, which can spread to the rest of the back or the buttocks. While the pain is usually a dull ache, sudden or awkward movements can cause sharp jolts.

Symptoms often get worse with bending, lifting, twisting, or sitting for a long time. Activities that put extra strain on your back, like carrying heavy items, gardening, or sports can also make symptoms flare up.

Changing your position often helps, and many people feel better when they walk or move gently. Lying down with bent knees can also take pressure off the lower back. Resting completely usually only provides temporary relief.

Your lower back might feel stiff and sore when you wake up, but this usually gets better within 30 to 60 minutes after you start moving.

Some people feel more pain after sitting or standing still, while others notice pain during or after being active. Keeping track of when your symptoms happen can help you find your own triggers.

Leg Pain and Nerve Symptoms

When a degenerated disc moves from its natural position, bulges, or herniates, the disc or disc fragments can press on nearby spinal nerves, causing pain to radiate down the legs.

Sciatica resulting from compression of the sciatic nerve is the most common result of this compression. When the sciatic nerve is irritated, pain shoots from the lower back through the buttock and down the back of the thigh, sometimes reaching the foot. Patients typically describe this as a burning, electric, or shooting pain, frequently paired with numbness or tingling.

Less often, problems with upper lumbar discs can press on the femoral nerve. This is called cruralgia and causes pain in the groin, the front of the thigh, or the inner knee.

Flare-Ups and Symptom Variability

DDD symptoms can come and go. Many people have times when they feel okay, followed by sudden flare-ups of pain.

These pain flare-ups can last for days or weeks, and might be set off by an awkward movement, high-impact exercise, heavy lifting, or happen for no clear reason. Some people feel worse in the morning until they loosen up, while others, like office workers, may feel fine early but get more pain as the day goes on.

Some activities almost always make symptoms worse, while others help. High-impact exercise, heavy lifting, and staying in one position for too long can aggravate DDD. Gentle movement, swimming, and changing positions often bring relief. Over time, most people figure out which activities work for them and which to avoid.

In our experience, up to 10% of patients find that the time between flare-ups becomes shorter, with symptoms becoming more severe and persistent. At this point, surgical intervention such as total lumbar disc replacement should often be considered as it is usually impossible to manage symptoms with over-the-counter medication and physical therapies.

Degenerative Disc Disease Symptoms and Daily Life

Besides the pain, DDD often affects your daily life in other ways, such as:

It can be hard to get a good night’s sleep. Not getting enough rest makes you feel tired and lowers your ability to cope with pain and the rigours of daily life, creating a tough and demoralising cycle.
Routine daily activities become challenging as the ability to move, bend, and stretch become significantly impaired.
You might need to change how you work, like using a standing desk or asking for lighter tasks during flare-ups.
You may need to give up sports or other strenuous hobbies. If at all possible, it may take trial and error to find an exercise routine that keeps you fit without making your symptoms worse.
Flare-ups can also cause last-minute changes to your social plans.

Degenerative Disc Disease and Mental Health

Chronic spinal conditions and mental health are tangibly connected. If persistent pain is leaving you feeling low or anxious, it is a recognized clinical consequence of the condition, not a personal failing.

According to a 2025 systematic review, approximately 20% of people with lumbar degenerative disc disease experience depression.^[1]

Frequently Asked Questions

What does degenerative disc disease feel like?

It often feels like a deep, steady ache in your lower back that gets worse if you sit for a long time with or without a shooting pain radiating from the buttocks down your leg to your toes (sciatica). You might also feel very stiff in the morning.

Can degenerative disc disease cause sciatica?

Yes. When a worn disc bulges or herniates, it can press on the sciatic nerve, causing pain that runs from your buttock down the back of your leg. You might also feel tingling, numbness, or weakness.

Most sciatica resolves on its own following medication and physical therapy. However, sciatica caused by severely degenerated discs usually only gets worse and requires surgical intervention.

Can degenerative disc disease affect your legs?

When disc degeneration leads to nerve compression, symptoms commonly extend into the legs. This may include pain travelling down the leg (sciatica), numbness or tingling, or a sensation of weakness.

The specific pattern depends on which nerve is affected: L5-S1 problems typically cause symptoms down the back of the leg to the foot, while upper lumbar disc problems may affect the front of the thigh. Not everyone with DDD develops leg symptoms; they occur primarily when a disc bulges or herniates enough to press on a nerve.

What are the symptoms of multilevel degenerative disc disease?

When multiple discs degenerate, the pain footprint simply expands. You might experience stiffness across a much larger section of your back, or nerve tingling that affects multiple areas of the legs at once. However, having multilevel disease on an MRI does not automatically guarantee your pain will be more severe than someone with a single affected disc.