1. one of the nine Greek goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who presided over the arts: Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. 2. (sometimes l.c.) the inspiration that motivates a poet, artist, or thinker.
The process is superimposed by degenerative changes that can cause stenosis and affect the nerve roots and these changes don't go away, even beyond age 75, as you see in this patient. Since the spine is a mobile organ structure, it does not spontaneously fuse until beyond 70 to 80 years of age.
Degenerative lumbar stenosis is common in elderly adults; bony overgrowth and ligament enlargement into the spinal canal, intervertebral disc herniation, or vertebral slippage (spondylolisthesis) may be responsible for nerve compression.