Flexion MRI for cervical myelopathy?

My neuro diagnosed it from symptoms. I have a note from him saying I cannot extend my neck. Surgeons had to comply. I asked my neuro what would happen if I bent my neck back too far and he said it would be "dire." I get symptoms if I look up and pain extends from neck into shoulder blade and down arm on one side. (I also have MRI like yours and a positive Babinski reflex indicating spinal cord damage).

What happens to you when you look up? I hope you get help! Are there any meds that help you. I get massage only at PT and tai chi helps some by aligning my neck and back.

@ellelu Welcome to Connect. I am a spine surgery patient. In early stages, myelopathy doesn't always show up on an MRI. This is what my spine neurosurgeon told me. If you are thinking of myelomalacia, that is when permanent damage shows up within the spinal cord on MRI and that shows up because of nerve axons that have died. If your surgeon is waiting for damage to show up on your imaging before they will offer to help you, that doesn't sound so good to me. Have you considered getting some more surgical opinions?

I was offered help and surgery to fix my spinal cord compression at C5/C6. My imaging showed that the fluid space was gone at that level, but the spinal cord still looked good. It's better to have surgery before permanent damage occurs, and they can't tell you exactly when that will be. I do think you may find other opinions with offers for surgery. Some of the issue is that surgeons can be very cautious because this is a big surgery.

Thank you, I have one Doctor who is willing to consider it and I have a plan to get surgery with him next week. However, I have had four other surgeons who say I am not a candidate because they don't see it on the MRI. This is a Worker's Comp. case, and I am concerned that they are not going to approve the surgery. I have an appointment today with an independent medical evaluator, we will see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I had an upright flex MRI yesterday that seems to show cranial cerebral instability. I do have spondylolisthesis between two and three and I think I may have issues above that as well. This is following a fall where I landed on my back neck and head.

@ellelu that sounds like a difficult situation to navigate. You do need a surgeon who wants to help, and generally speaking, getting biased opinions in favor of the employer often doesn't help you. Their job is to minimize the financial impact to the company or insurance company. I suggest getting your own opinions from surgeons not connected to any of the ones you have already seen or in the same medical centers. I do hope you get the help you need. It sounds like a difficult surgical case, and you need a real expert who does this surgery often.

For WC to approve the surgery you’ll need at least 2 surgeons independent of the WC examiner agreeing that surgery is necessary and that the procedure prescribed meets clinical standard of care of your particular illness. This is a generalization that would arm you with enough support to fight a denial which you might expect on round #1. Sometimes it’s a fight no matter what you present.