Most people with mild to moderate symptoms do not get worse. While many improve in the short term after surgery, this improvement decreases somewhat with time. A number of factors present before surgery are able to predict the outcome after surgery, with people with depression, cardiovascular disease, and scoliosis doing in general worse, while those with more severe stenosis beforehand and better overall health doing better. The natural evolution of disc disease and degeneration leads to stiffening of the intervertebral joint. This leads to osteophyte formation—a bony overgrowth about the joint. This process is called spondylosis, and is part of the normal aging of the spine. This has been seen in studies of normal and diseased spines. Degenerative changes begin to occur without symptoms as early as age 25–30 years. Not uncommonly, people experience at least one severe case of low back pain by the age of 35. This can be expected to improve and become less prevalent as the individual develops osteophyte formation around the discs. In the US workers' compensation system, once the threshold of two major spinal surgeries is reached, the vast majority of workers never return to any form of gainful employment. Beyond two spinal surgeries, any more are likely to make the patient worse, not better.
Lumbar spinal stenosis
Peripheral artery disease
Cervical spinal stenosis
Spinal stenosis
Spinal disc herniation
Spinal tumor
Lumbar disc disease
Spinal disease