What is the Bone Spur and what causes it

Causes of Bone Spurs

Bone spurs are the result of bone hyperplasia.

A pointed object grows from the side of the bone, so it is called a “bone spur”.

The growth of bone spurs is a normal phenomenon of bone aging, but modern people often sit for a long time and stand incorrectly. The intervertebral discs between the spine are compressed and become thinner and lose elasticity. Therefore, long bone spurs in young people may be the premature aging of the spine.

The growth of bone spurs indicates that the bones have entered the aging stage. Just like the machine is used for a long time, the parts in it will definitely wear out. When the cartilage between the bones is subjected to long-term pressure or damage, it will gradually lose its elasticity and become thinner, causing wear and tear on the upper and lower bones. After the bones are worn out, It will repair itself, causing calcium precipitation and bone hyperplasia.

Excessive exercise or professional athletes also have the opportunity to grow bone spurs

If you have obesity or work that often requires a long time to stand, People who have had knee injuries or other joint diseases, such as gout, rheumatoid arthritis, or bacterial infections, excessive exercise or professional athletes, it is likely to put a great burden on the joints, and this burden will cause the cartilage in the joints to wear and tear, making the joints unstable. In order to increase our stability, the joints Bone spurs will grow to increase stability. For this reason, the places where bone spurs are prone to proliferate are mostly in weight-bearing joints and bones with high mobility.

What is the bone spur

Bone spurs refer to the proliferation of normal bones. If they compress or rub against other bones, or ligaments, tendons, nerves and other soft tissues, they may cause wear and pain. Common parts include the spine, shoulders, hands, hips, and knees.

Types of bone spurs

1. Degenerative cervical/lumbar spine stenosis: bone spurs caused by chronic degeneration with age, but not necessarily symptoms.
2. Lumbar intervertebral plate herniation: Because the fibers of the intervertebral plate or the nucleus pulposus are prolapsed, and the nerves are compressed, causing pain.

Symptoms of bone spurs

1. Pain: The cause of bone spur hyperplasia is due to cartilage damage, and cartilage damage may also cause pain.
2. Joint stiffness: due to the proliferation of bone spurs, the mobility of the joints is reduced. Therefore, after the proliferation of bone spurs, the joints will become more stiff.
3. Muscle atrophy and numbness: If there are nerves around the bone spurs proliferation, the nerves are likely to be compressed, causing symptoms such as numbness and weakness or muscle atrophy.

Most of the bone spurs will not bother us. Unless the bone spurs press on the nerves, it may cause us to experience symptoms such as numbness of hands and feet, muscle atrophy, backaches and so on. Some of the “sciatica” that makes people sit or stand are caused by bone spurs in the lumbar spine.

How to treat bone spurs

If the bone spurs are not compressed to the nerves and cause symptoms such as low back pain and hand numbness, no special treatment is needed. Most patients with bone spurs do not need surgery.

If a bone spur patient has the following conditions, he will be recommended to undergo surgery:

1. The pain caused by bone spurs is more than 3 months, no matter whether it is taking medicine or rehabilitation, it cannot be improved.
2. Muscle atrophy.
3. Muscle weakness.
4. Urine and bowel movements are affected.

There are three main treatment methods for bone spurs:

1. Medication: If the symptoms are not serious, the doctor may prescribe painkillers, such as aspirin, to relieve our pain, but it should be noted that the medicine will not make the bone spurs disappear, and may also cause a burden on our kidneys.
2. Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation methods include hot compress, electrical stimulation, head traction, and ultrasound. Hot compresses improve blood circulation and improve muscle ischemia; electrical stimulation and ultrasound strengthen blood circulation in deeper muscles; and head traction can open nerve holes, thereby increasing blood circulation and reduces the burden on joints.
3. Surgery: If the symptoms still cannot be improved after the two previous methods for more than three months, it may be necessary to consider using surgery to solve the problem.

How to prevent bone spurs

1. Avoid poor posture and maintain the same posture for a long time.
2. Pay attention to your daily diet. You can add more antioxidant ingredients, such as nuts, spinach, pumpkin, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and so on.
3. Lose weight.

・Statistics show that most people who grow bone spurs are women over the age of 50.

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