Joel also opened up about undergoing surgery for his condition, saying, “They implanted a shunt in my brain and it actually improved things.”
In May 2025, Joel canceled all of his scheduled concerts after being diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, an “abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid deep within the brain,” according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
Cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, is the fluid that lives in the ventricles, or cavities, of the brain that helps cushion the brain and the spinal cord. When the flow of CSF is somehow blocked and fluid builds up in the ventricles, it causes normal pressure hydrocephalus, according to NINDS.
The condition is most common in older adults, and the most common treatment is surgery.
Joel recalled his neurologist describing the condition as “water on the brain.”
He added that he first noticed that things weren’t right when his balance was off.
“I had this sense of being on a boat, like this rocking motion. I wasn’t steady on my feet,” he said.
He said at first, he was going to pass on surgery but changed his mind after reading that it could help with his balance and memory.
“I don’t want to lose my marbles,” Joel said, adding that the procedure, which involved getting a shunt implanted in his brain, “improved things” for him.
“My memory got better, my balance got a little better, my ability to function was better, and I realized — and the doctors told me this — because of my job, which is playing rock ‘n’ roll music very loud, that it was giving me something like a concussion every time I did a show,” he said.
Joel continued, “It was causing damage to my brain nerves, and I could be losing more brain cells the more shows I did, and I realized that means I shouldn’t be doing this right now. I got to improve.”
The singer said that he’s now doing physical therapy and listening to his doctors.
“They don’t want me to stress too much,” he said. “I’m doing whatever it is they tell me to do, because I don’t want to lose it, you know? So I’m always testing myself.”
In January, Joel returned to the stage for the first time since his brain disorder diagnosis. He surprised an audience at a Florida village amphitheater with a two-song set.
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