Originally Posted by glenntaj

--are so common in aging human beings (partly due to our upright weight bearing posture AND our tendency to be seated for long periods at work or driving) that it's hardly surprising that you have some.

The question with these things is always how severe it is and what symptoms it causes. You notices the line in the MRI report "coorelate clinically"; that's because many people with all sorts of neural foraminal narrowing and/or cord compromise on MRI may have no or minimal symptoms, whereas those with not as much imaging evidence may have considerable symptoms. There's a tremendous amount of variation across individuals.

And, the other problem you and me and many others have is that symptoms caused by nerve root or spinal cord problems can be exactly mimicked by symptoms caused by more peripheral issues, such as diabetes or autoimmune attack on nerves, and it may be very hard to tease out just what is contributing to what.

I of course had my full body acute onset small fiber "attack" fifteen years ago that has left some residual damage, but my bigger day to day issues these days seem to come from mutlilevel foraminal compromise in my cervical spine, which I do very extensive physical therapy and exercise for so I can keep out of the surgical suite as long as possible. And I am prone to all sorts of compressive effects from the original nerve problem (and probably from slow regrowth along different pathways than originally), so I also have intermittent problems with the femoral nerves due to a leg length discrepancy that tilts my pelvis and impacts nerves passing through there.

I think you do have evidence of enough cervical compromise, given the symptoms you describe, to need to really see a neural orthopedic specialist. You did have enough discs herniation to contact nerve tissue. A repeat imaging might be in order--disc bulges and herniations can heal, though the extent of healing and symptoms improvement, again, is very variable. Neural compromise in the spine due to overgrowth of the vertebrae bone into the foramen--oestophytic complexes--tend to just grow over time (that's what I have) and may eventually have to be shaved down or removed to make space for nerve roots to function.