Herniated Disc and Disc Disorders ICD-10-CM codes

Disc disorders are split by spine level: M50 for the cervical spine and M51 for everything below it. Within each, the 4th character reports the clinical picture: 0 with myelopathy, 1 with radiculopathy, 2 displacement (herniation, protrusion, extrusion) without myelopathy or radiculopathy, 3 degeneration, 4 Schmorl's nodes (M51 only), 8 other, 9 unspecified. The 5th character is the region: for M51, 4 thoracic, 5 thoracolumbar, 6 lumbar, 7 lumbosacral. A lumbar disc herniation without nerve involvement is M51.26; the same herniation with radiculopathy is M51.16.

M50 subdivides the cervical region as 0 unspecified, 1 high cervical (C2-C3, C3-C4), 2 mid-cervical, 3 cervicothoracic (C7-T1). Mid-cervical codes are expanded to the 6th character by level: M50.121 C4-C5, M50.122 C5-C6, M50.123 C6-C7 for radiculopathy, with parallel codes for displacement (M50.22-) and degeneration (M50.32-). Because M50.1- and M51.1- already include the radiculopathy, do not add M54.1- codes for the same level.

FY2025 expanded lumbar and lumbosacral degeneration to the 6th character by symptom pattern: M51.360 with discogenic back pain only, M51.361 with lower extremity pain only, M51.362 with both, and M51.369 without mention of either (M51.370 through M51.379 for lumbosacral). It also added M51.A- for annulus fibrosus defects. Because these degeneration codes now describe the pain, M54.50 is not reported with them for the same region. Sciatica or low back pain symptom codes are dropped once the disc diagnosis is established.