Many patients who have neck or low back pain believe that getting an MRI will pinpoint exactly where the pain is coming from.  This, unfortunately, is a huge misconception.   MRIs are anatomical studies, not pain studies.  They evaluate the structures of the spine by producing a series of pictures.  However, these structures (such as a disc or a spinal joint) do not stay the same shape and size throughout our lives.  They undergo adaptive, age-related changes and MRIs reflect that.  Such a change that can occur is a bulging disc, which has now been proven from multiple studies to be a typical age related finding.  The more we age, the more common these findings.  They are typical, can be asymptomatic, and do not necessitate treatment.  Think of them similarly as if getting a grey hair or a wrinkle in the skin.  That is why MRI terms such as, “bulging disks, disc desiccation, spondylotic changes, facet arthrosis, endplate spurring, foraminal/lateral recess/central canal narrowing or stenosis” need to be interpreted with caution, because they are common findings as reflected in the table below.