Please request a MRI of your entire spine. Not just your lower spine.

The reason this is important is because I have had MRIs of my lower and middle spine for over 30 years (9 major back surgeries since I was 12 and I am now 50 years old).

In 2010 I started to have difficultly with walking and it felt like I had 30 pound weights hanging on my upper thighs - heavy legs I would describe it as.....I had the lower spine MRIs and other scans and tests of the lower spine and nothing "new" showed up.

By 2013 I could only walk 5 steps and both legs and then my arms became a problem. My hands started to curl up into fists and my legs were basically doing the same thing. A neurosurgeon asked me if I had any cervical (neck) MRIs and I said no. He ran a neck MRI and it showed that my spinal cord was completely flattened in two places in my neck and this was what was causing the problems with my legs and arms.

I had neck surgery to release the compression on the spinal cord and I am back to walking normally but I still have some problems with my hands and arms but nothing like before surgery.

It can't hurt to have the MRI to rule out any neck issues. Insurance might require that you have three separate MRIs - one for the lumbar spine, one for the thoracic spine and one for the cervical spine. It depends on your insurance. Some allow you to have all of them at once, however, that takes over 2 hours of laying completely still in the MRI machine which is difficult for anyone.

Good luck and stay as active as possible.