gmak

Dear hippoman, Welcome to healthboards! There is a disc protrusion @ L4-5 that is just touching the nerve that goes from your spinal cord down the left leg, also @ L5-S1 there is a disc protrusion but it isnt touching the nerve, & ddd is degenerative disc disease which is very common & starts to show up on humans about age 18 from normal wear & tear. Radiologists describe severity of DDD usually as mild or slight, moderate & severe but what you have posted just says degeneration.Radiological imaging is only part of the process of diagnosing a back problem, a neurological exam & a detailed history with all your symptoms are necessary to make a diagnosis & a practice limited to spine only neurosurgeon or a fellowship trained spine orthopedic surgeon is the kind of dr needed to do all this in my opinion. What symptoms are you having? A dermatome map is very helpful to locate the parts of the body that are innervated by the L4-5, L5-S1 nerve roots & it is interesting to see if this aligns with your symptoms, i looked one up as i too have residual problems with those two levels also. I think
you may need to provide more details on both mri's for an explanation. I hope this helps!