For patients with a painful bone spur in the spine, treatment typically begins conservatively (non-surgically). Conservative treatment methods tend to focus on relieving pain and reducing inflammation without surgical intervention, and they remain the standard set of treatments that most doctors recommend. From non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and corticosteroid injections, to physical therapy and low-impact exercises, conservative methods are generally successful at alleviating a patient's discomfort due to a spinal bone spur. However, some patients choose to explore alternative bone spur treatment options in lieu of, or in combination with, conservative treatments.
What Are Alternative Treatments?
Alternative treatments are methods that do not fall within the realm of the conventional health care system. They are a holistic option for patients seeking pain relief from bone spurs, which are bony growths in the body's joints that are commonly associated with arthritis. Spinal bone spurs are not painful in and of themselves, but they can cause focal pain and radiating pain, numbness, weakness, and tingling if they compress the spinal cord or a nearby nerve root. Some alternative bone spur treatment methods include:
Acupuncture - Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese practice, involving the insertion of tiny needles along the body's "meridians," or energy channels. If these channels are blocked, it is believed that the life energy, or "chi" (pronounced "chee"), cannot flow throughout the body and pain arises. An acupuncturist will carefully insert needles near painful areas to unblock meridians, stimulate nerves, and relieve pain.
Massage - Gentle massage could prove beneficial for some patients with bone spurs, as muscular manipulation can increase nutrient- and oxygen-rich blood flow to painful areas of the body. Additionally, massage can help to relieve muscle tension surrounding arthritic joints.
Herbal remedies - Topical applications of chamomile and flaxseed oil along the spine may help relieve bone spur pain.
Meditation - It is believed that meditating helps people gain control over their pain mentally to block it and/or perceive it differently.
Yoga or Pilates - Both yoga and Pilates use breathing and gentle stretching techniques that help to lengthen the spine and improve muscle strength, which may aid in relieving pressure on compressed nerves and releasing muscle tension.
Chiropractic adjustments - Chiropractic manipulation can be a helpful bone spur treatment by realigning arthritic joints that, due to their instability, may have shifted slightly. This can help to relieve nerve compression caused by bone spurs.
What If Non-Surgical Treatments Fail to Ease Pain?
Patients should know that several weeks or months of conservative and alternative bone spur treatment methods are usually able to alleviate symptoms associated with nerve compression caused by osteophytes, or bone spurs. In some cases, surgery may be necessary to remove an offending spinal bone spur in a procedure called an osteophytectomy. A doctor could also suggest another procedure involving the partial removal of the lamina, or one of two bony plates in a vertebra that form a protective arch around the spinal cord. Removal of this bone fragment may help to relieve the compression on the spinal cord or nearby nerve root that a bone spur is pinching.
