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About 80% of Americans have low back pain at some point. It’s usually short-lived, but if yours lingers for weeks or months, you may wonder if surgery would help.
Low back pain has many causes. Often it's linked to one or more of the rubbery disks that normally cushion the vertebrae in your spine. A few things can go wrong. Disks can break down (your doctor may say yours has degenerated), so they're no longer able to provide proper support and cushioning.
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