Introduction: The purpose of this study was to speculate the process of degenerative changes in the lumbar spine.

Methods: The subjects were 80 (45 men and 35 women) patients aged 39–92 years (mean, 67.2 years) with degenerative change of the facet joints who had undergone surgery. These patients were divided between two groups using Gibson’s classification in T2-weighted MR images at L4-5 or L5-S1. The patients with 3 or 4 grade were regarded as D(+); otherwise as D(−). The number of patients, age, gender and the presence or absence of painful arthrosis in the limbs in each group were examined.

Results: There were 47 (20 men, 27 women) patients with a mean age of 67.5 years in the D(+) group, 33 patients (25 men, 8 women; mean age, 66.6) in the D(−) group. Painful arthrosis in the limbs was more often observed in the D(−) group than in the D(+) groups.

Conclusion: In the process of degenerative change of facet joints, some patients did not have severe disc degeneration. Most patients in the D(−) group were men and had painful arthrosis in the limbs.