I understand the difficulty of this decision. Recently I had to accept that it was time for me to schedule a surgical consult. I'm trying to focus on the fact that a consult is just that and what I do with the information is my decision. I already have the Mri's to bring so it's relatively painless.

I had a muscular skeletal sports medicine doctor who I've gone to for numerous sports related issues and respect to help guide my doctor choice. He suggested I see 2 doctors, 1 aggressive and 1 conservative and then compare. I have just scheduled my appointments.

Because of personal experience I think it's important to also see a doctor that isn't a neurologists for structural causes. My MRI's, although plenty troublesome, were not enough for the neurologist to confirm structural reasons being the cause of my symptoms. Although my cervical results are very similar to yours, because I didn't have L'hermitte's sign he said it wasn't the cause. After 16 months with so many tests trying to find a cause I went back to looking at my spine, lumbar specifically as the burning, etc in my legs are the biggest problem and that's why I'm exploring all options at this point.

I am convinced that for me certain positions contribute greatly to my symptoms. I brought it up and because of my spondylolisthesis they did a flexion/extension xray which was quite telling. I realize yours is cervical and I'm talking lumbar but perhaps there is a way to test this?

I hope this helps.
carol