My husband has severe back problems with the only surgical option being a total spinal and cervical fusion but he has been advised against it by his neuro due to the involvement and his age. He also has two bad knees with a TKR pending. This weekend, he was having trouble keeping his balance. It wasn't his equilibrium nor the usual 'knees giving out' thing. It was just a lack of motor control.

Where do you 'experts' think the problem could be originating from? His back or his knees? He can't figure it out.

BTW, he has his 5th injection on Feb 16th. These injections started in June. Sounds like a bit much too soon but his ortho surgeon said to go ahead with the pain management Dr. recommendation to have it and then no more. If the last one worked on Jan 5th, it wasn't enough to notice.


Karen

:wave:
Hi Can you give us more info
what is hsi approx age? What do you mean by a total fusion like what levels are involved? Is there a way to fix the worst? I have lumbar a cervical issues like a few others here and am dealing with the lumbar right now. Just had my 4th surgery :eek: Not the most fun or advisable. By balance issues is it his knees bothering him or leg weakness in general? is it one leg more than the other. The injection thing is complicated. It depends on exactly what type ESI, nerve block, facet block, medial branch, Is it different levels or always the same levels. The doctors consider it emergent if he would start to have bowel/ bladder issues... like unable to control it or unable to go. Maybe if you have some more info. more of the members can chime in with what they have filed away in there brains. Keep us posted ;)
shelley

Dh is 45 and according to his neurologist, from what I can comprehend, he would need an entire lumbar fusion (rods and all) and most, if not all, of his cervical area fused, too. His dx(s) include: severe DDD, cervical herniation, lumbar radiculitis, spondylosis, stenosis, and other 'stuff'.

Two epidurals he had in June/July were to address a herniation. Surgery ended up being the best option and the 3rd injection was a facet injection at five levels, 4th was an epi at L4-5 where the herniated disc was and he has a 5th scheduled for the same region which is another epidural.

It does appear to be a weakness in his knees without either being more prominent. It seems to be better today and he's able to maintain his balance more easily. This new occurrence is different than what he's experienced in the past with painful arthritis and his knees buckling all the time. It is also different from the radicular pain he had with the herniated disc.

I guess we'll have to find out from his pain management doc what could be happening. I just was hoping someone may have had experience with this and could advise us on whether or not we may need to be a bit more aggressive based on these symptoms.