Comparative roentgenographic study of the asymptomatic and symptomatic lumbar spine.

A comparative roentgenographic study was carried out on 217 asymptomatic patients between forty and seventy years old and 387 symptomatic patients in the same age range. Spondylosis (osteophyte formation) did not appear to have any direct relationship to low-back pain. Degenerative disc disease appeared to be a major cause of low-back pain. Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis occurred more frequently in the symptomatic than in the asymptomatic patients. Routine roentgenograms of the lumbosacral spine were useful in evaluating patients seen for treatment of low-back pain.