Soft stabilization has an important role in the treatment of the degenerative lumbar spine. Fusion of one or two motion segments may not make a big difference in the total range of motion of the lumbar spine, but preserving flexibility of a motion segment may prevent adjacent segment disease and may permit disc replacement, even when facet joints need to be excised. A favourable environment is created in the motion segment by unloading the disc and permitting near normal motion, the disc may be able to repair itself or may supplement reparative potential of gene therapy.