Q: I have had chronic low back pain for 5 years and recently developed numbness and pain in both legs. When I went to the hospital for a radiograph, the doctor diagnosed me with lumbar spondylolisthesis. A: Lumbar spondylolisthesis is a disorder in which the lumbar vertebrae are partially or completely misaligned, clinically known as slipped vertebrae, generally the upper vertebrae slide forward. Lumbar spine slippage occurs between the 4th lumbar vertebra and the 5th lumbar vertebra, or between the 5th lumbar vertebra and the 1st sacral vertebra. In lumbar spondylolisthesis without lumbar pain, patients do not need special treatment, but only need to strengthen the lumbar back muscle exercise to enhance the stability of the lumbar spine and prevent further aggravation of the slippage. For patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis with lumbar pain only, most patients can effectively relieve the symptoms through conservative treatment such as bed rest, physical therapy, external ointment, oral Chinese medicine or anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving drugs. In addition, patients can also wear lumbar aids and braces to reduce the burden on the waist and relieve symptoms. If patients with lumbar spondylolisthesis develop neurological symptoms such as lower limb numbness and pain, and the symptoms are not significantly relieved after regular conservative treatment, and they still have obvious lumbar pain, which seriously affects their life and work, they need to consider surgical treatment. The principles of surgical treatment are repositioning, decompression, internal fixation, and bone graft fusion. Resetting is to restore the slipped vertebral body to its original position and restore the proper mechanical balance through surgery combined with instruments; decompression is to release the compression on nerve roots through surgery; internal fixation is to maintain the position of the reset vertebral body by using internal fixation such as nail bars to prevent the recurrence of slipped vertebral body or instability of the lumbar spine, and to provide a guarantee for the growth of bone graft.