20 Tips How To Treat Bone Spurs In Neck, Back, Hip & Knee

updated: 07/05/2019

Today, when work requires you to spend a lot of time on it, exercise does not appear in your daily schedule. As a result, more and more people have bone spurs. This disease causes a lot of pain and inconvenience to the patient in carrying out daily activities. Even standing up and sitting down is very difficult to perform. Of course, it is always best to take precautionary measures. However, if you unluckily get bone spur, you can still treat this disease with tips that this article introduces below. But first, let's take a look at some basic information about this disease to get the most out of it.

What Are Bone Spurs?

The human spinal cord has about 33 – 34 vertebrae connected by ligaments and cartilage plates. The spine is divided into segments based on anatomical and physiological features, including 7 vertebrae (C1, C2, …, C7), 12 thoracic vertebrae (denoted as T1, T2, …, T12), 5 lumbar vertebrae (denoted as L1, L2, …, L5) and 5 vertebrae (denoted as S1, S2, …, S5).Cartilage is composed mainly of collagen, water and proteoglycan. As cartilage degenerates, the functions of cartilage cells are reduced. This causes the process of reconstruction of the cartilage to become disordered, resulting in uneven distribution of the vertebral body. At the same time, the bones of the vertebrae are subjected to higher pressure, resulting in the formation of bone spurs outside the vertebrae. Bones are rough and dense.

Bone spurs usually form on the frontal or lateral side of the vertebral, rarely on the back of the vertebrae. Bone spur commonly occur in the neck or back area because they often have to be operated and twisted a lot. If bone spurs are present, the patient will suffer from severe pain. All activities in life are difficult and they always need the help of others. Not only that, if not treated in time, bone spurs can cause compression on some nerves. As a result, the patient may face some conditions such as constipation, urinary incontinence, disability or death.

What Are Common Causes Of Bone Spurs?

Here are common causes of this disease:

• Age

Age is the leading cause of poor health. Almost all the organs of the elderly are aging, their skeletal muscles are not as flexible as before. Thus, the vertebrae of the back and neck are prone to degeneration. Then, bone spurs are unavoidable.

• Job Requirements

Working too long without exercise can make you very vulnerable to bone spurs. There are some work that require you to maintain movements such as bending or folding, or work that requires you to carry heavy loads. They can distort the normal structure of the neck and back, leading to degeneration of the spinal tissues or the formation of bone spurs.

• Genetic Factors

Men are more likely to have bone spurs than women. However, postmenopausal women also have the same incidence of bone spurs as men.

• Daily Posture

Some daily postures, such as lying on the back, bending back, and working for a long time in bending posture, are also one of the causes of bone spurs.

• Injuries Of The Spine

Spinal injuries caused by accidents or sport can also lead to distortion of the spine. At that point, the spine becomes weaker and less resistant. This is the cause of the degeneration of the spinal cord, causing bone spurs.

• Congenital Malformations

Congenital malformations such as gouty or scoliosis will alter the normal area of the lumbar spine, increasing compression on the surface of the disc and leading to structural changes in the spine. Abnormalities in the spinal structure accelerate degeneration of the lumbar spine, resulting in bone spurs.

• Overweight And Obesity

One of the causes of bone spurs is overweight and obesity. Excessive body weight increases the compression force on the disc and lumbar spine. This causes the lumbar spine to become damaged and bone spurs formed.

• Diet

A diet lacking in nutrients, especially calcium, accelerates the degeneration of the vertebrae and enhances the formation of bone spurs. In addition, the abuse of alcohol and beer is also one of the causes of bone spurs.

• Endocrine Problems And Metabolic Disorders

Certain diseases, such as diabetes, gout, and osteoporosis, often cause a decrease in the immune system and increase the risk of bone spurs.

What Are Common Symptoms Of Bone Spurs?

Here are common symptoms of this disease:

• Pain in the neck and back, especially when you walk or stand
• The pain may spread to the hips and legs
• The pain can happen suddenly
• Having trouble bowing, standing up or sitting down
• In some serious cases, the patient may experience a loss of sensation in the spine
• Muscle weakness, especially in the hands and feet, is caused by nerve compression.
• Body imbalance
• Urinating uncontrollably

You may experience other symptoms not mentioned. If you have any questions about the signs of the disease, please consult your doctor.

What Are Risk Factors?

Bone spurs is a very common disease and anyone can get it. However, those who regularly carry heavy loads and those who regularly sit too long are at high risk. You can control this problem by minimizing risk factors. Please see your doctor for more information.

When To See A Doctor?

As soon as you notice the initial signs of the disease, you can treat it with home remedies. However, if your condition is not improved, you should see a doctor. Besides, if you have any questions, please consult your doctor. Each person's condition is different, so please consult your doctor to select the most suitable option.

Above are some basic information about bone spurs. Hopefully with this information, you may have the most comprehensive view of this disease. Here are tips on how to treat bone spurs in neck, back, knee and hip naturally that help you quickly get out of this disease so you will feel more comfortable. Please take a look at TrueRemedies.com!

Top 20 Tips On How To Treat Bone Spurs In Neck, Back, Knee And Hip Naturally

1. Take A Rest And Be Patience

This is the first home remedy in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs in back. The spine is a complex system consisting of joints, nerves, muscles, and blood vessels. Thus, bone spurs can occur in many parts of the spine due to misalignment, injury or heavy pressure. However, bone spurs can disappear quickly without treatment within a few weeks. When you have bone spurs, you should be patient and stop activities that can affect the pain, then the symptoms of bone spurs will gradually decline.

• The bone spurs is not recommended for resting in the bed. You should do some mild activity as walking or climbing stairs. This way will be effective for bone spurs as it stimulates blood circulation and helps relax the affected joints or nerves.
• If you get bone spurs because of overwork or doing gym in the wrong way, you will then need to consult your personal trainer for proper instruction.
• If your job is a cause of bone spurs, you should do another job which is more lightly, or adjust the workplace, such as padding under your feet or replacing chairs with lumbar support.

2. Apply Cold

This is another must-try treatment in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs in back. In the process of “taking a rest and be patience” remedy, you can apply the applying cold remedy. The cold applying uses the low temperature to reduce stimulation from the bone spurs as well as help your bones recover quickly.

You can use ice packs or gels for some cases of acute pain. This remedy can reduce inflammation because they work to numb the pain.

To implement this remedy, please follow these steps below:

• Prepare some ice cubes or cold gel packs and soft towel
• Use soft towel to cover the ice cubes or cold gel packs
• Then use the towel to apply to the affected area
• Leave for 10-15 minutes then take break for an hour until the pain gradually recovers

Then, you can lower your frequency of using this remedy to three times a day.

It should be noted that applying cold remedy is not suitable for people with chronic back pain as they can aggravate symptoms.

Read more: 24 Natural Home Remedies For Trigger Finger Or Thumb Relief

3. Adjust Your Sleeping Posture

The sleeping posture and sleeping conditions can affect or cause bone spurs. For example, the posture with your back is up can make the waist curl too much. It can squeeze and cause discomfort to the spine and nerves. The best sleeping position is to lie on one side. You can tilt to the side like the fetal position and flex in the hip and knees or you can lie on the back (lying down on the bed and using the pillow to lift the legs). Both the postures above can relieve pressure on the joint and limit discomfort and pain from the bone spurs.

To implement this remedy, you can follow these steps below:

• Changing the sleeping conditions means you have to ensure that the mattress bed must be sure to support the spine well. In general, the soft mattress can cause additional pain in your bone, while the hard orthopedic bed reduces the pain of bone spurs.
• Each person has different needs for sleep, so the way to determine if his or her bed is sufficiently supported is based on the feeling after waking up. If you wake up with the pain, this means that your sleeping posture or your sleeping condition is not good enough. If the pain is felt at the end of the day, it may be due to your work, activity or exercise.

4. Improve Your Back’s Posture

This tip on how to treat bone spurs in neck, back, knee and hip is simple but crucial. Posture of your back is curved while sitting and standing can increase the pressure on the waist and cause more discomfort and pain for patients with bone spurs. You can improve your posture to help relieve pressure and back pain. In fact, you can prevent a recurrence of bone spurs by improving your posture. However, this remedy is difficult to implement and you need to work hard every day.

To implement this remedy, you can follow these steps below:

• Strengthening abdominal muscle is the best way to improve your posture. Abdominal muscles are located in the waist which is the middle of the lower abdomen and pelvic area. They all connect to the spine and the pelvic area to keep the body in a straight position.
• To improve the standing posture: Stand with your legs and do not bend your knees. Tighten your abdominal muscles and hips to keep your back straight. Wear support shoe and restrain the weakness of muscle by placing one leg on a regular foot rest.
• To improve the sitting posture: You should choose a hard chair with armrests. Straight your back and relax the shoulders. Place a small pillow behind the waist to create a natural curve of the waist. Place your feet comfortably on the floor, using a footrest if needed.

5. Lift Things In A Proper Way

This is a very good remedy for the prevention and treatment of bone spurs. When you lift things in the wrong way, it can make your bone spurs worse and cause more illness.

The next treatment in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs in back is lifting things in a proper way. To implement this remedy as a treatment of bone spurs, you should follow some basic guidelines below:

• Do not carry too heavy objects. The heavy objects can be slipped off your hands and cause a bad effect on your back. You should check the weight of objects before lift them up. In the case of too heavy objects, you should ask for another help.
• You should stand close to the object before lifting, and contact as close as possible while carrying the objects.
• Do not twist or stretch the hips while keeping your back straight. If you need change direction, you should rotate your whole body.

6. Check If Your Mattress Has Been Used For More Than 8 Years

This sounds strange when it comes to tips on how to treat bone spurs in neck, back, knee and hip, right? If you have used a mattress for more than 8 years, you should consider buying a new one. You should do this because the material used to make the mattress will deteriorate over time and then the mattress is no longer good for your back as well as your body. There is no best mattress for the bone spurs, so try to find the one that suits you best before you buy, because someone likes to hard mattress and someone likes soft mattress. Foam mattress can make you feel more comfortable than traditional spring mattresses.

Choose a mattress store with a return policy to ensure satisfaction. The reason you should do this is because to get used to the new mattress, you may need several weeks. If during that time your bone spurs condition worsens, you may be able to change another mattress.

7. Take Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)

Always follow the manufacturer's instructions when taking the medicine. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce inflammation and relieve pain caused by bone spurs. For example, some non-prescription anti-inflammatory drugs such as Mofen-400, Ameproxen or Alaxan can quickly and easily relieve pain. They are sold at pharmacies. Their common side effects include bloating, heartburn, nausea, dizziness or diarrhea. If these symptoms persist, stop taking your medicine and consult your doctor.

Many doctors believe that children under the age of 18 should not take aspirin because of the association with Reye's syndrome. This condition is very rare but it can cause serious damage to the liver and brain.

8. Meet A Physiotherapist

The next one in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs in back is meeting a physiotherapist. The physiotherapist will guide you through the exercises. They teach you how to stretch and strengthen your back muscles, and how to prevent muscle strain. Egoscue is a form of physical therapy intended to restore the correct posture for a bone spurs patient. Expert focuses on treating back pain and finding problems with the posture that you are experiencing. They will check your posture as you go, sit and sleep. Finally, they propose a series of exercises to help you reduce pressure and strain on your back.

9. Bathe Regularly With Epsom Salt

This is especially effective if you have bone spurs from manual labor or standing too much. Epsom salts contain minerals that help to relax the muscles. Medicine called this method as “hydrotherapy”. Do not take shower in hot water to avoid burns. Bathing with Epsom salt helps the nervous system to function more vigorously to circulate blood to muscles that are stretched or injured.

In addition, you should massage your back when bathing. When you soak in hot water, your muscles will be relaxed. This is a good time to massage the muscles. To do this, put a baseball or tennis ball on the lower back and move the hips back and forth. Repeat the same for your upper back.

10. Massage

No wonder, massage is a surefire way on how to treat bone spurs in neck, back, knee and hip. The best way to treat bone spurs is to massage the waist and hip areas. The lumbar region is where the ribs and pelvis intersect. Usually, this is where the pain caused by bone spurs occurs. Physiotherapists can stretch and massage these areas with specialized massage techniques ^[1].

11. Acupuncture

Try out acupuncture therapy if you are looking for an effective way on how to treat bone spurs in back. The acupuncturist will prick the very fine needles to precisely point the points on the body. They argue that this therapy works to stimulate the body to produce endorphins, serotonin and acetylcholine, which are very powerful analgesics produced naturally by the body. Although the medical community cannot prove the scientific impact of acupuncture, recent clinical trials have shown good results. There is certainly a lot of unofficial evidence (in the words of the patient) about the effectiveness of acupuncture. Anyway, this therapy also provides some positive results for your condition, so you can try it at least one.

12. Add Calcium To Your Body

This is another must-try tip on how to treat bone spurs in neck, back, knee and hip. We all know that bones need calcium to grow and maintain health. Our bodies do not produce calcium themselves, so we need calcium supplements in our daily diet. Calcium plays an important role in bone regeneration and development. It forms the structure and strength for bones and teeth. The body needs to be given enough calcium each day to ensure optimum bone density, which helps keep bones healthy throughout our life. As your age increase, your ability to regenerate your bones will decrease. This is one of the reasons why older people are more susceptible to bone spurs. Do not wait until you feel the bone is not tough to begin to add calcium to the body.

If you are unlucky to have bone spurs, you need to regularly add calcium to your body to compensate for calcium deficiency. Some calcium-rich foods include milk, whole grains, yogurt, tofu and almonds. Add them regularly to your diet to help prevent or treat bone spurs.

13. Add Vitamin K To Your Body

If you want to know how to treat bone spurs in back, don’t skip supplementing enough vitamins to your body. Among vitamins, vitamin K is one of essential vitamins and minerals for healthy bones. The addition of vitamin K to the body will greatly assist in the treatment of bone spurs. Among vitamin K, vitamin K2 is most important for bone health. Vitamin K2 activates osteocalcin, a protein needed to absorb calcium in the bone. Vitamin K2 is also an anti-inflammatory for the body. This will be very helpful because the infection will increase the number of cells that are capable of destroying the bone.

You can find vitamin K2 in egg yolks, cheese, sauerkraut, and fermented soybeans. Vitamin K1 is found in leafy greens, and can easily be converted into vitamin K2 by healthy bacteria in your gut. Giving your body the necessary amount of vitamin K over a long period of time will ensure your bones are healthy.

14. Add Vitamin B To Your Body

Vitamin B is essential for strong bones. Vitamins B6 and B2 work in conjunction with folate and riboflavin work together to help prevent homocysteine from accumulating in your body. Homocysteine causes bone breakage and interferes with collagen binding. This is important because collagen is a major protein in bone. To keep the homocysteine level to a minimum level, you need to provide your body with a sufficient amount of B vitamins. To do this, add to your menu some foods like cauliflower, mushroom, strawberry, corn, cucumber, whole wheat bread and seafood. Besides, you can also use functional foods. You need to follow the dosage that the manufacturer gives you. Although functional foods are great, you must not abuse them.

15. Get Plenty Of Vitamin C

The next treatment in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs fast and naturally is adding vitamin C to your body. You may think that vitamin C has nothing to do with bone, because vitamin C helps boost the immune system, fight free radicals, and keep skin healthy. However, vitamin C also helps keep your bones healthy. Vitamins are important for bone as it is a “partner” of collagen. Vitamins also stimulate bone building cells, reducing inflammation. This winter, you should eat more orange and strawberries to provide enough vitamin C for your body. In addition, guava, broccoli, kiwi fruit and papaya also contain a lot of vitamin C. If you cannot provide the amount of vitamin C that your body needs through food, you can use functional foods.

16. Take More Magnesium

The next treatment in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs naturally is adding magnesium to your body. Magnesium is a mineral that can activate more than 300 enzymes involved in the production of major energy enzymes. Magnesium also regulates the secretion of calcitonin, a hormone that maintains calcium levels in the blood. Therefore, if you want to prevent or treat bone spurs, do not forget to add magnesium to your body. Excellent sources of magnesium include pumpkin seeds, cooked spinach and pure cocoa ^[2].

17. Add Zinc To Your Body

Zinc is one of the important minerals for healthy bones. Zinc stimulates the synthesis of collagen and bone formation. Zinc also reduces the progression of bone degeneration and reduces the number of cells that can destroy bone. Zinc is plentiful in pumpkin seeds, wheat germ, oysters, beef and animal liver.

18. Add Silica To Your Body

In regard to how to treat bone spurs in back naturally, adding silica to your body is important. Silica is a trace mineral needed for healthy bones. Because silica is a trace mineral, too much silica is unnecessary. Just like vitamin C, silica boosts collagen production. Silica helps increase calcium absorption and prevents calcium from accumulating in soft tissues. Therefore, to support the bone spurs treatment, you need to add silica to your body. You can find silica on potato and cucumber.

19. Add Boron To Your Body

Just like silica, boron is a trace mineral, so you only need 3-5mg of boron per day. Boron converts estrogen into active form, increasing the ability of your bones to absorb magnesium. Boron is also needed for the conversion of vitamin D into active form. The usefulness of boron is not limited to the activation of estrogen and vitamin D. An experiment conducted by the US Department of Agriculture found that boron reduced calcium excretion in postmenopausal women by 44%. If you have bone spurs, you need to add enough boron that your body needs every day to speed up the treatment. Dried fruits, nuts and butter are excellent boron sources.

20. Add Vitamin D To Your Body

Adding vitamin D to your body is the last remedy in this list of tips on how to treat bone spurs in back. Vitamin D plays an important role in the metabolism of calcium and bone. Vitamin D increases the absorption of calcium in the intestine by increasing the synthesis of proteins which transport calcium through the intestinal wall. When vitamin D is enough, the body can absorb up to 30% of calcium from food. In pregnant and breastfeeding women, high vitamin D levels allow up to 50% of calcium intake ^[3].

Vitamin D supplements reduce the excretion of calcium and phosphorus, thus preserving these precious materials for bone. In bone, vitamin D promotes mineralization. It also promotes the activity of the gene which synthesizes osteocalcin. Vitamin D also protects the skeleton through increased muscle and reduced risk of falls. Therefore, do not forget the presence of this vitamin in the list of tips to treat bone spurs.

Some foods rich in vitamin D are mushrooms, fresh milk, tofu, cheese, oysters and oats. To enhance the absorption of vitamin D from your body's diet, you should regularly sunbathe in the early morning.

Above are tips which can help you treat bone spurs. Choose some of them and alternate them in your treating to see how effective they are. If you have any contributing ideas about our article of “Top 20 Tips On How To Treat Bone Spurs In Neck, Back, Knee And Hip Naturally” introduced in How To Category, do not hesitate to drop your words below this post. We will answer as soon as we could.

• Nerve Health
• Pain