{"id":3444,"date":"2017-08-24T09:31:38","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T13:31:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/josh-li-lab\/?page_id=3444"},"modified":"2022-08-01T16:21:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-01T20:21:01","slug":"mechanisms-of-disc-degeneration-and-back-pain","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/joshua-li\/research\/mechanisms-of-disc-degeneration-and-back-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Mechanisms of Disc Degeneration and Back Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Inflammation around herniated disc and nerve roots<\/p><\/div>\n

When intervertebral discs wear out, the annulus develops cracks and the nucleus can herniate out these crack, like the jelly squeezing out through a hole in the donut. Our bodies see the nucleus as a foreign body and attack it by sending cells to gobble it up. These cells release inflammatory chemicals \u00a0that cause inflammation around the nerves, which can cause back\/leg pain, numbness and\/or weakness. In addition, the inflamed nerves make the muscles go into spasm. That is what causes the neck and low back pain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When intervertebral discs wear out, the annulus develops cracks and the nucleus can herniate out these crack, like the jelly squeezing out through a hole in the donut. Our bodies see the nucleus as a foreign body and attack it by sending cells to gobble it up. These cells release inflammatory chemicals \u00a0that cause inflammation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":36,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3444","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMechanisms of Disc Degeneration and Back Pain - Joshua Li, MD, PhD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/joshua-li\/research\/mechanisms-of-disc-degeneration-and-back-pain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mechanisms of Disc Degeneration and Back Pain - Joshua Li, MD, PhD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When intervertebral discs wear out, the annulus develops cracks and the nucleus can herniate out these crack, like the jelly squeezing out through a hole in the donut. Our bodies see the nucleus as a foreign body and attack it by sending cells to gobble it up. 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