Annular fissures (tears) - Annular fissures, colloquially termed tears, are separations between the annular fibers of the intervertebral disc or separations of annular fibers from their attachments to the vertebral bone. Several small studies found no correlation between the presence of annular fissure and back pain [56-58]. As an example, a prospective study of asymptomatic patients found that 38 percent had evidence of annular fissures at baseline [59]. Follow-up after three years showed that annular fissures were not associated with new back pain [56)