Imaging change commonly seen with degenerative disc disease.

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Degenerative disc disease commonly shows disc space narrowing because the disc loses water and its internal matrix, causing the height to drop. As the disc degenerates, the adjacent vertebral endplates remodel and osteophytes form at the margins to stabilize the motion segment. Endplate sclerosis can also occur with chronic changes. So the combination of reduced disc height with osteophyte formation—and sometimes endplate sclerosis—best reflects these degenerative changes. The other patterns don’t align with this process: disc height isn’t increased in degeneration, there aren’t typically no radiographic changes, and osteophyte resorption isn’t a feature of this degeneration pattern.