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Cervical disks and heaviness and numbness in legs
Spine Health | Last Active: Jul 22 6:53pm | Replies (13)Comment receiving replies
@rico2 We have communicated in your first discussion which was this one.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/acdf-56-and-pinched-nerves-leg-weakness/
You are correct in that cervical stenosis with cord compression can cause problems with weakness and heaviness in the legs. It can also be caused by problems elsewhere in the spine. Since you are in physical therapy, you can ask your PT. It is easy for them to assess if your cervical spine is out of alignment if they have you lay on your back and feel if the spineous processes are lined up . It may be that symptoms increase if the alignment is off due to a muscle spasm or slipping of vertebrae that increases pressure on the spinal cord. If your PT is able to realign the cervical spine and it relieves the symptoms, that would be evidence that the cervical spine is causing or at least contributing to the leg issues.
I had leg issues from cervical canal stenosis that caused me to walk with a limp and uneven gait. Like I described, my symptoms could get better if my PT realigned my spine, and the issues returned when a muscle spasm moved the vertebrae again. Of course, my spine surgery that fused C5/C6 resolved all of it.
Will you be following up with your spine specialist after a period of PT? Has PT helped?
Replies to "@rico2 We have communicated in your first discussion which was this one. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/acdf-56-and-pinched-nerves-leg-weakness/ You are correct..."
My neurosurgeon wants MRI of back and neck as he is thinking it’s lower back where I had surgery in 1996. What I keep thinking is the leg weakness and heavy legs did not show up until I started PT for the right arm tingling and weakness so I am thinking it is related to my ACDF and the 3/4 bulging into my spinal cord and then PT probably aligned things like they should be but aggravated nerves. PT definitely has helped taking pain level in neck from 7 to 4 but the bad side is that I have to drive 80 miles round trip to do PT. Even though my car rides very well all the little bumps feel like I fell into the Grand Canyon. My neurosurgeon has said he will probably want to do ACDF on 3/4 but I’m hesitant of another surgery. I’m kind of lost on what I should do for this but I have to do something as I’m afraid to walk as sometimes my legs don’t do what I think they should do. Seeing others going through this and seeing how they are coping with it helps too.
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@rico2 I would not advise any manipulation of the cervical spine until you get an updated MRI (not sure when you had your last). You don’t know what is pressing on your spinal cord/nerve roots (vertebrae, disc, bone spur, etc.) so manipulating your neck or thinking PT will help resolve this may delay you getting testing to see if your spinal cord is being injured.