Lumbar spondylosis is the medical term for age-related wear in the lower back. It often begins in the discs, which lose water and height over the years. That shifts more load onto the facet joints, the small paired joints at the back of each vertebra, and they wear in turn. Bone spurs can form around them, which a report may call osteophytes, and the ligaments nearby can thicken.
This wear comes with age, whether or not your back hurts
A StatPearls review of spinal osteoarthritis finds these changes close to universal with age, in people without symptoms too, and a poor guide to how much a back hurts. The figures for discs are set out in how often bulges and protrusions show up on scans of people with no back pain. Whether the wear explains your own symptoms takes an examination to judge, not the images alone.
Worn facet joints can ache in their own right, with no nerve involved
Facet joints are true joints, so osteoarthritis wears them much as it wears a knee. How facet joint pain behaves, and how doctors test for it, has its own article.
Spinal stenosis and a slipping vertebra can both grow out of the same wear
Bone spurs and thickened ligaments can take up the room the nerves need, and that narrowing is spinal stenosis. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons names arthritis as its most common cause. Symptoms tend to gather in the buttocks and legs on a walk and settle with sitting, as our article on spinal stenosis explains.
Worn discs and facet joints can also let one vertebra slide forward on the one below, which is called degenerative spondylolisthesis. StatPearls describes it mainly in older adults, usually with a narrowed spinal canal, and Cleveland Clinic notes that some people with a slip never have symptoms. Doctors grade a slip by how far the vertebra has moved, and the kinds of spondylolisthesis and their grades are set out separately.
Keeping active still applies when the scan shows wear
The NHS advises people with back pain to stay active and keep up daily activities rather than resting in bed for long, and NICE guidance encourages the same, as our guide to lower back pain explains more fully.
The doctor who ordered the scan can say which findings matter
Bring the report to the appointment and ask directly:
- Does anything on this report explain my symptoms, or is it wear you would expect at my age?
- Is there narrowing where the nerves run, or a slip at any level?
- Does this result change what we do next?
- Is there anything I should avoid, or can I keep up my usual gym sessions?
Your doctor interprets the report, and The Sync tracks how your spine moves
The Sync does not diagnose, prescribe medication, give injections, operate, or provide or read imaging.
Its SpinalSync system tests the spine one segment at a time, with the readings on a screen as they come in, so a repeat measurement shows what has changed. MyoSync works with the fascia and soft tissue around the spine, and both support comfort and movement. Non-surgical spinal decompression, available at select locations, is sometimes added where disc wear is part of the picture, and how it differs from surgery and traction is explained separately. If the assessment turns up something a doctor should see first, a Sync specialist says so early.
Common questions about lumbar spondylosis
Broadly, yes. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons uses spondylosis as another name for osteoarthritis in the facet joints, and a StatPearls review notes that research and imaging studies often apply the label when narrowed disc spaces and bone spurs appear at the same level.
No, though wear can lead to a slip. Spondylosis means age-related wear, while spondylolisthesis means a vertebra has slipped forward on the one below, and in adults the most common kind of slip comes from worn discs and facet joints. Spondylolysis, a third similar word, is a stress fracture in a narrow bridge of bone at the back of a vertebra.
The wear tends to build gradually over the years, but pain does not have to follow it, because how the wear looks on a scan is a poor guide to symptoms. The NHS notes that back pain often settles on its own, although it can keep coming back. Symptoms that change, especially in the legs, are worth taking to a doctor.
Not the wear itself. Diagnosis, reading the scan and any medication, injections or surgery belong with your doctor. A Sync specialist assesses and measures how your spine moves, with care that is gentle by design and aimed at comfort and movement, and says early when something needs a doctor first.
Written by the Aphyx Content team, reviewed by the clinical team at The Sync. Published 3 November 2026. Last updated 3 November 2026.