There are 112 patients included in the study with single-level lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis at L3-4, L45 or L5-S1. The researchers compared their data to 296 control patients without spondylolisthesis.
The researchers found:
• Lumbar hypomobility was present often regardless of the level of degenerative spondylolisthesis.
• Slips at L3-4 caused a large decrease in lumbar range of motion.
• The most common level for instability was L3-4, followed by L5-S1.
• At the adjacent segment, instability was most frequent at L4-5, occurring in 49 percent of the patients.
• The stable spondylolisthesis group had decreased angular motion at all levels.
• The degeneration was significantly greater at the slip level for L3-4 and L4-5 in the spondylolisthesis group and equal to the control group in L5-S1.
• For patients with L3-4 and L4-5 degenerative spondylolisthesis, there was no significant difference in disc degeneration at the adjacent segments.
• At L5-S1, there was a significant decrease in disc degeneration for patients with a slip.
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