What is a black disc? My neighbor says he had an MRI and that’s what they found. He’s only 30-years-old, so I’m wondering if this is something we all have.

Degenerative disc disease, the break down of the discs in the back, is a major cause of lower back pain in adults. Although older adults are affected most often, any adult can be affected. There are three predictable stages of degenerative disc disease. These stages develop slowly over a period of 20 to 30 years. The first stage is temporary dysfunction. The second stage is unstable. And the third stage in the cascade of events is stabilization.

What’s really happening? Well, first the center of the disc (called the nucleus starts to break down. It loses its ability to absorb water and becomes dehydrated. This is the dysfunctional stage. Instability occurs as the outer covering of the disc develops fissures or tears.

The disc weakens and starts to collapse. Some say the disc is dying. In the final phase, the disc becomes stiff and fibrous. Although it’s collapsed down and the nearby soft tissues get compressed, the overall segment stabilizes.

These various stages can be seen on MRI scans. When looking at imaging studies of the discs, healthy discs have a white center (nucleus), while the annulus (outer covering) seems dark. The nucleus will get darker as the disc degenerates until it becomes black, which means complete degeneration.

They call it black disc disease or disc desiccation. Desiccation just means dried out. Completely normal discs have a white center or nucleus. Those with severely degenerated discs show up with a black nucleus. And those in between are gray.