Criteria for MILD is 1. Greater than >2.5 mm ligamentous thickness, 2. anterothesis < 5 mm with absence of spinal instability. No one has yet been able to demonstrate this to me therefore have not proceeded but still open to it. Looking.

@kdks99 I can appreciate your comment about financial incentives influencing provider's recommendations for procedures. I can tell you as a patient from my experience at Mayo, there is not a financial bias for the surgeon to perform surgery. Mayo staff are all employees of Mayo and are paid the same salary if they do or don't do surgery. I think that gives a more objective and honest opinion. My surgeries at Mayo have been a cervical spinal fusion and fixing a broken ankle. I also found my physical therapist to be very knowledgeable about surgeries because she rehabs people before and after them and had knowledge of doctors and surgical procedures by treating their patients. Another source of evidence based information is medical literature and that can be found online. Sometimes, all you can see is the abstract, and other times, you can find a complete paper available without having to pay to read it. On the Mayo website, publications are listed in the physician profiles and you can look at those online. You can always search for a surgeon online and may find research papers if they are publishing. I think surgeons at major medical centers are the ones leading new innovations their field and publishing rather than surgeons in private practices. Medical journals have peer review by experts in the field before a paper is published.