I have three questions I need help answering.

Would a normal healthy disc at L5S1, no matter how it is stressed EVER fail by a process of Postero-Lateral Herniation?

Do you HAVE TO have Degenerative Disc Disease to begin with for this to happen?

If not, then what other causes would make this occur?

Many thanks for your time in advance if you can enlighten me any further on this.

Would be so appreciated.

Best regards

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Originally Posted by fal77

I have three questions I need help answering.

Would a normal healthy disc at L5S1, no matter how it is stressed EVER fail by a process of Postero-Lateral Herniation?

Do you HAVE TO have Degenerative Disc Disease to begin with for this to happen?

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Have you talked with a chiropractor or a physician knowledgeable about bones/joints? A lot depends on genetic factors and athletic activities/injuries.

See if thses help:

Spondylolisthesis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_cord_injury

There are so many variables to your questions, most are unanswerable. They say you could mri 100 people and generally 50 could have herniations without symptoms and 50 might have DDD disc disease without symptoms, or symptoms. Disc disease is something everyone gets as they age, its unavoidable, so without your age its hard to say. A posterior lateral herniation is basically towards the rear (posterior) and lateral towards the side (lateral) left or right who knows, which is typically normal for all herniations. What causes this is anyone's guess, stress, exercise, accidents, its impossible to really say unless you had a normal mri one day a trauma the next and an mri with a finding of a herniation right after then its reasonable to say that this trauma cause this particular herniation, but since we don't have that luxury of prior exams before traums then its really anyone's guess why these things happen. I have had back problems for years, had mri's discograms etc... I had a herniation a couple years ago at L3-L4 that was pinching a nerve, I never did anything about it, now 2 weeks ago a new mri showed a herniation at L5-S1 pinching a nerve at L5-S1 and I am on disability, had no trauma, so how did this happen? Nobody has any idea. Yea I have DDD on all levels so my discs are suspect and maybe that is why it happened, they can't say to a medical certainty.
To a medical certainty there is no real answer to why these things happen, stress, overuse, genetics is anyone's guess.
Hope this helps...
Bill