MILD, in the literature my pain doc gave me, stands for minimally invasive lumbar decompression. There is also an invasive surgery with the same name. It's a confusing situation that lead me to make a 2nd-opinion appointment with a surgeon who advertised "minimally invasive lumbar decompression" on his web page... and who subsequently spent my appointment lambasting the ligament-scraping procedure and telling me scare stories. Politics between pain docs and surgeons are tough to navigate!