Bone spurs: do you get them and where?

Thank you ladies for your support and good wishes. I will certainly keep you posted on my progress x

Was told by  consultant, when having my hip replacement, that I have bone spurs on my spine. More recently when I sprained my ankle I also have one growing on my right heel.

Although not been diagnosed I think some of my fingers have too! 

Hi @Skattiecat‍ it’s awful having Spurs growing   I hadn’t realised that they grew in the spine. I hope that you can get it treated as they can be painful 😖. I had one in my shoulder about 8 years ago. It had damaged all the ligaments and gone deep into the muscle. All the ligaments had to be shaved down and the spur had to be cut out of the muscle. Now I’ve got another one growing in my other shoulder and more calcification growing. It’s caused by having arthritis and because I use walking sticks. I will need surgery again but that’s a long drawn out process now. It’s painful and affects my mobility. I do hope that you are getting treated soon   Take care and every blessing to you x

On behalf of all the Ambassadors we are glad to hear all is slowly improving, and wish you well with any further MRI scan results! 

I had boney spurs as a teenager.  I had one on each heel and they started growing and became apparent when I was about 13 years old and at secondary school.  Whenever I had new shoes they used to rub my heels and in the early years I got bad blisters and my heels would bleed.  As time went on the spurs got bigger.  When I reached about 16 they got so big I had to buy bigger size shoes to accommodate the spurs. My natural shoe size was UK 5 (eu size 38 US 7). I saw my doctor when I was 17 because I was having to cut holes in the back of my shoes in an attempt to accommodate the spurs.  Every time I put shoes on I ended up with my heels breaking down and bleeding and just being very painful. In the end I just used to wear flip flops which at 16 and 17 I was devastated because I couldn’t wear fashionable footwear like all my friends.  By the time I saw a surgeon My shoe size had gone up by 2 sizes and I was a UK 7 (eu 40 US 9).  When I did see a surgeon initially he wasn’t very sympathetic and basically said he thought I wanted them removed because of vanity which really upset me. Fortunately my mum was with me and she explained to him quite firmly how the spurs had been and the negative impact it was having on my life. He finally agreed to surgery and 6 weeks before my 18 birthday I had both spurs removed. It extremely painful afterwards and I was on crutches for 3 weeks because I had to walk on tiptoes for 3 weeks. It took me a couple of weeks to learn to walk normally again but I did it and on my 18th birthday I wore a pair of high heeled shoes for the first time in 5 years 😊😊. 

I didn’t have arthritis then but maybe it was a sign of things to come. I was formally diagnosed with osteoarthritis when I was 46 although I had been getting a lot of pain for about 5 years leading up to that point.  On my 47th birthday I had a full hip replacement and 4 months after my 50th birthday I had a total knee replacement. My other hip and knee are now showing symptoms of osteoarthritis and my hip in particular is painful and giving out without notice   

Fingers especially painful in my thumbs 😭 toes knees neck a d shoulders well just about everywhere tbh.... 🤔 

Oh @janeh68‍ the bone spurs in your heals and subsequent problems sounded horrendous so glad that they were eventually removed. From then on you have had some similar problems like myself so I can understand the issues you’ve had to experience.  We have to manage as best we can but it shouldn’t be hampered by specialists who are unsympathetic.  I do hope that your negative experience is now a thing of the past and that you get good specialists from now on.  I guess the older I get the less tolerant I am towards rude and unsympathetic professionals. In my experience and through hearing other people’s experiences I think it’s important to either challenge these poor behaviours at the time or at a later date by the complaint process.  Sometimes we don’t get a positive response but by challenging hopefully the professionals start to understand that their behaviour has a serious impact upon their patients and that it is unacceptable.  In my experiences usually these unacceptable behaviours is a thing of the past. The consultants that I’ve had in the last 20 or so years have all been excellent even though I may of come to the end of any more available treatments they have dealt with me in a very professional and empathetic manner. I do hope that you have had similar experiences.  

These sites can help when sharing issues, different treatment experiences etc. They can be a real blessing.  I do hope that you’re having a good day. God bless x

Well I had my scan results and subsequent appointment with the physio last week. Rather disappointing news, it's moderate spinal stenosis but not serious enough for surgery which would be a major operation on my spine. I'm not sure if I would want to go through that anyway but there is no further treatment for me, just exercises and painkillers. The diagnosis may ne moderate bur the pain isn't! I know there are a lot of people on Carenity who are in pain every day and I can really empathise with you, we're just left to our own devices to get on with our lives. I'm very lucky in other ways and rarely get depressed about things so I'm just going to try and remain positive and carry on as best I can!

@Evie48‍ 

That's the way to be. Yes, remain positive and do your best. The other important thing is, to keep up with regular exercises. They do help in alleviating the pain. Take a hot bath first to warm your body up, take pain killers and then do the exercises. If you can get to the pool, swimming or exercising in water would also help a great deal. How ever boring you may find exercising, it is important that you keep up with it.

Good luck