Table 1:

Mean (±SD) initial signal-intensity and degeneration grades and changes in them by annular tear for all disks and by disk level

Disk	Annular Tear?	Initial Signal-Intensity Grade	Initial Degeneration Grade	Change in Signal Intensity	Change in Degeneration
All	No	1.43 ± 0.62	2.20 ± 0.40	0.15 ± 0.54	0.15 ± 0.39
	Yes	3.07 ± 1.31	3.24 ± 0.94	0.42 ± 0.85	0.31 ± 0.37
T12-L1	No	1.50 ± 0.50	2.19 ± 0.40	0.11 ± 0.43	0.23 ± 0.42
	Yes	2.60 ± 1.42	2.90 ± 1.02	0.40 ± 0.88	0.30 ± 0.57
L1–2	No	1.27 ± 0.57	2.22 ± 0.43	0.27 ± 0.43	0.05 ± 0.23
	Yes	2.87 ± 1.2	3.14 ± 0.93	0.46 ± 0.79	0.25 ± 0.51
L2–3	No	1.53 ± 0.90	2.20 ± 0.41	0.06 ± 0.70	0.13 ± 0.56
	Yes	2.90 ± 1.16	3.16 ± 1.00	0.38 ± 0.80	0.32 ± 0.59
L3–4	No	1.50 ± 0.52	2.30 ± 0.48	0.20 ± 0.63	0.10 ± 0.41
	Yes	3.25 ± 1.33	3.30 ± 0.85	0.33 ± 0.92	0.41 ± 0.55
L4–5	No	1.00 ± 0.00	2.00 ± 0.00	0.50 ± 0.70	0.50 ± 0.72
	Yes	3.25 ± 1.31	3.36 ± 0.96	0.40 ± 0.87	0.25 ± 0.57
L5-S1	No	1.50 ± 0.70	2.00 ± 0.00	-0.50 ± 0.90	0.00 ± 0.00
	Yes	3.22 ± 1.37	3.34 ± 0.91	0.56 ± 0.87	0.34 ± 0.64