Several diseases can happen to the discs, such as disc bulging, disc thinning, disc herniation and disc degeneration, due to varied causes including acute injury and aging. As people age, the fibrocartilage of nucleus pulposus dehydrates, losing ability to absorb shock. This aging resulted deterioration of the biological and mechanical integrity of the intervertebral discs causes axial pain, which is generally referred as Degenerative Disc Disease, with an abbreviation as “DDD”.

About 50% of people older than 40 years of age have degenerative disc disease, which is a condition similar to osteoarthritis [3]. Many patients with DDD do not have symptoms or pain, but for others, chronic debilitating pain can become a life-altering condition that affects their activities of daily living. You can imagine how life quality will be reduced with a chronic pain and limited movement of the DDD patients. In addition, the socioeconomic and psychosocial impact of this disease can have far reaching effects. The treatment of this disease entity in the United States is expected to exceed $60 billion annually in health care costs. The indirect economic losses associated with lost wages and decreased productivity are staggering [3].