If your spine MRI says “disc osteophyte complex,” do not chalk it up to “just aging.” This is a targeted repair response to microinstability. As discs lose proteoglycans they dehydrate, lose height, and develop annular fissures; load shifts to the vertebral rim, endplates, uncovertebral joints, and facets. The spine tries to stabilize by laying down fibrocartilage that ossifies into marginal bone spurs (endochondral ossification). Paired with a bulging or herniated disc, those osteophytes can na