Degenerative disc disease, or DDD, is a common radiologic finding seen on X-ray reports of the neck and back. These X-rays demonstrate loss of disc space height, increased density of the adjacent bone above and below the shrunken disc, air in the disc and bony spurs. The condition is almost ubiquitous after the age of 40 or 50. Unfortunately, oftentimes the patient complaining of back pain due to a unrelated condition will also demonstrate DDD on X-ray causing confusion and misdiagnosis. Patients are warned that if the doctor tells them that their diagnosis is degenerative disc disease, they should know that it may be an incidental X-ray diagnosis and may not accurately reflect the actual cause of back pain. A herniated disc can occur with a perfectly normal X-ray. Patients with severe degenerative disc disease findings on an X-ray can live normal, active lives without pain at all.