Is Spinal Degeneration the Cause of My Back Pain?

Low back pain is a common problem that affects many people. In fact, up to two-thirds of adults will experience low back pain at some point in their lives, and it’s the leading cause of disability worldwide.

When you have back pain, doctors often use imaging tests like x-rays, MRIs, or CT scans to look at your spine. These tests can show things like ‘disk degeneration’ or ‘disk bulges,’ which might sound alarming and feel like they’re the cause of your pain. However, these findings are not always the culprits—they’re often just normal changes that happen as we age.

Our bodies, including our spines, change over time. Research shows that many people without any pain also have these changes. For example, one study of over a thousand people aged 20 to 70 who didn’t have neck pain found that nearly 9 out of 10 of them had disk bulges on their MRIs. This tells us that things like disk bulges and degeneration are common and often just part of getting older.

Even for people with low back pain, studies have shown that these changes seen on scans don’t always line up with how much pain someone has—or if they have pain at all. In one study that followed people for 10 years, many developed low back pain, but the MRI findings didn’t reliably predict when pain would start or how severe it would be. Similarly, a 20-year study on neck pain found no consistent link between imaging results and symptoms.

So, it’s important to rethink how we view imaging results. Instead of seeing these findings as signs of something going wrong, it’s helpful to understand them as “age-related changes” that are normal rather than pathological. Just like wrinkles are a natural part of aging, changes in the spine are usually a normal part of growing older. They don’t necessarily mean that something is damaged or that these changes are causing your pain.

Understanding this can help you approach your treatment with a clearer perspective and focus on what really matters: movement, exercise, and other strategies that help you feel better and stay active.