MANY people get back pain at some point in their lives. But some of us are unlucky enough to develop severe degenerative disc disease, which can be truly debilitating. Now it seems that disc transplants from dead donors could be used to treat the problem.
Spinal discs connect individual vertebrae and have a jelly-like centre that acts as a shock absorber. Over time, the discs can dehydrate and become less compressible, causing severe pain.
The usual treatment is painkillers and physical therapy. The last resort is spinal fusion, an operation in which two vertebrae are fused together, but this can…
