Another thing - make sure you explicitly ask to see a specialist and get them to verbally refuse - i.e. don't wait until they volunteer it or circumnavigate the topic - be very clear: "I am extremely worried about the symptoms I am having and want to see a specialist, please refer me to a specialist spine surgeon." (or even "I insist that you refer me to a specialist spine surgeon").
I have found they are actually unlikely to refuse a strong direct request even if they don't really want to do it.
I suspect the reason they are unlikely to refuse a direct request is because if later on you end up with a serious problem/incident you could point back and say that they refused a direct request by yourself to see a specialist which would not make them look very clever.
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snowboarding injury 1997 landed on head, some subluxation of cervical vertebrae no surgery, some ongoing neck and shoulder pain but bearable.
surfing injury 2004 - transient paralysis from neck down for 15 seconds, resolved fully - herniated c5/c6 disc plus some bulging at c3/4/5. Initially had dermatome pain after injury which resolved - general parasthesia in arms/legs was fairly mild after injury but has been worsening.
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