Strong evidence

Disc degeneration, bulges and similar imaging findings are common in people who have no pain at all, and become more common with age.

In practice

A frightening-sounding scan report is not a sentence, and it doesn't by itself mean an exercise is dangerous. What your body does under load tells you more than what a picture of it looks like.

What it doesn't say

Common findings are not the same as irrelevant findings. This is context for a worrying report, not a reason to ignore one — your clinician interprets your scan, not this app.

Source

• Brinjikji W, Luetmer PH, Comstock B, Bresnahan BW, Chen LE, Deyo RA, Halabi S, Turner JA, Avins AL, James K, Wald JT, Kallmes DF, Jarvik JG (2015). Systematic literature review of imaging features of spinal degeneration in asymptomatic populations. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 36(4):811–816. doi.org/10.3174/ajnr.A4173