@valc66 Welcome to Connect. I am a spine surgery patient. MRI is a good first step to figure out what may be wrong. Spine issues are very tricky and can have overlapping symptoms with other conditions. Neurologists are like detectives and do nerve testing to figure out if signals are being transmitted at the correct speed or are abnormal, and where nerves may be compressed or affected. They also may test for other diseases that could produce similar symptoms. It may be a long process. If a structural problem is found in the spine imaging, then the next step would likely be a referral to a spine surgeon if other conditions are ruled out.

You are welcome to share results here if you wish, and if you do share images, please remove all personal identifying information first for your son's protection. I'm sorry the primary care doctor is difficult to work with. Does the primary care doctor control what referrals are made to specialists?

Jennifer