Hi again ~ Well, what can I say? I sure wish MY MRI looked like this.

I know you're in pain, I'm not trying to minimize it by ANY means. The ligamentous and facet hypertrophy means that there is overgrowth of both. I assume they're talking about the ligamentum flavum? That's a series of ligaments of yellow elastic tissue connectiing the laminae of adjacent vertebrae from axis to sacrum. The facets are the "wing-like" structures on each side of the spinal cord that you can see and feel if you hunch your back over.

And a Schmorls node is a spinal defect characterized by a protrusion of the nucleus pulposus into the spongiosa of a vertebra. The pulposus is a mass lying in the center of each intervertebral fibrocartilage. The spongiosa is paart of the bone made up of spongy cancellous bone.

Is that more info than you wanted??

Seriously tho, this doesn't look like anything serious, and NOT anything that any surgeon would touch. I hope that PT will help you. Keep us posted, ok?? God bless and please take care. Hugs, Lee