his doc REALLY needs to send him for an MRI just to see that spinal area more in depth. "something" hads affected nerve/s somewhere along the way. if he is actually having back pain on that same side,there could be many possibilities as to what has compromised nerves there. and MRI would show the nerves and the soft tissue down to the cord level. this is the area that really needs to be seen. an x ray will not show down that far,tho it can show a herniated disc pretty well. he needs that evaluated all the way into the spinal cord area to get the best look as to what could be causing this.

whatever actually shows up on that MRI would really dictate what your next steps should be. but until that area gets a thorough look, all the doc can do is guess. it really does sound like something has completely closed off nerve flow there and needs to be found out,soon. i would just ask his doc to have him referred for that MRI as soon as possible since nerves can actually die off if they are compressed for too long with no nerve flow at all running thru them. i do wish you luck with this, and please keep me posted as to what you find out. FB