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Relieve your back pain.

Bone Spur Treatments in Miami

Comprehensive Nonsurgical and Surgical Options.

Bone Spur Diagnosis

Our doctor will ask you about your medical history, including whether you have a family member that suffers from osteoarthritis or bone spurs. Our doctor will then ask about your symptoms and will order one of the following imaging tests to locate the bone spur and decide on an appropriate course of treatment: 

  • X-ray: this type of imaging can show the bones in your spine and the muscles in your back.
  • MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging): this technique uses a magnetic field and radio waves to produce detailed images of your spine.
  • CT (Computerized Tomography) Scan: using a series of X-rays taken at different angles, a CT scan produces cross-sectional images of your spine.

Bone Spur Treatment

Non-Surgical Treatments for Bone Spurs

Initially, our doctor may recommend conservative treatments for bone spurs, such as:

  • Physical therapy: Physical therapy can help to strengthen the muscles surrounding the spine and increase the motion in the vertebrae. Physical therapy can take several forms, such as gentle exercise and stretches, ice and heat therapy, and massage.
  • Pain & Anti-Inflammatory medications: If you are experiencing pain due to inflammation from bone spurs, our doctor may suggest over-the-counter pain or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), such as Tylenol or Aleve.
  • Weight loss: If you are obese or overweight, losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight can help take off the excess pressure from your spine and lower back. This will decrease your pain from bone spurs. 
  • Fluoroscopic guided injections: This is the injection of steroids and anesthetics into the problematic joint causing pain using x-ray guidance.
  • Radiofrequency Ablation (Rhizotomy): The use of electrical currents to heat up the tip of a needle that is used to ablate or “burn” a nerve and prevent pain signals.
  • Chiropractic therapy: If the symptoms caused by bone spurs are linked to a misalignment of your spine, spinal manipulation, such as that used by chiropractors may help to relieve the pain. Chiropractors use their hands, stretching devices, and other stretching instruments to apply gentle pressure to the muscles surrounding the vertebrae and adjust the spine.
  • Acupuncture: Often in combination with Chinese herbs, acupuncture may help alleviate some of the symptoms caused by osteoarthritis. The placement of needles in acupuncture can help to reduce inflammation and relieve pain by releasing the body’s endorphins (natural pain killers).

Surgical Treatments for Bone Spurs

If non-surgical options weren’t successful in relieving pain, there are several surgical options to treat bone spurs. At the Miami Neuroscience Center, we perform minimally invasive procedures that require smaller incisions which reduce complications and recovery time. The surgical procedures to follow can be performed on their own or in combination with other surgeries depending on the recommendations from our neurosurgeons. Some surgical options include:

Bone Spur Removal Surgery

Also known as osteophytectomy, the aim of this procedure is to remove one or more bone spurs. This procedure will require a general anesthetic and a small incision. Depending on the size and location of the bone spur, our surgeon will then use small tools to cut away or shave the bone spur or calcified ligament. It is important to treat the underlying cause of the bone spur to prevent it from growing back which may involve additional procedures. After the bone spur has been removed, the surgeon will replace the tissues over the spine and close the incision with sutures.

You should be able to return home within 24-48 hours. After returning home, you may feel fatigued for a few days. Getting plenty of rest will help to speed up your recovery. You should limit your daily activities and reintroduce them gradually on the advice of our doctor. The amount of time you will need off work will depend on the region of your spine that the bone spur was removed from and the physical demands of your job. For example, you will be able to return to a desk job sooner than to a job which requires lifting heavy objects.

Foraminotomy

Our doctor may recommend a foraminotomy if the bone spurs are compressing a nerve root. The aim of this decompression procedure is to create more space within the foramen – the hollow archway between two vertebrae. This procedure can be performed using minimally invasive techniques and will relieve pressure on the nerve root. You will be sedated during this procedure. The surgeon will access the affected vertebrae via a small incision, usually no bigger than an inch or two. Our surgeon will then move aside the muscle and tissue to enable access to your spine. The bony tissue around the foramen will be cut away or shaved down, making the space larger and relieving pressure on the nerve root.

You should be able to return home within 24 hours of your procedure. For the first few days after surgery, you may need help with dressing, bathing, and getting in and out of bed. Our doctor will advise you on how and when to reintroduce your regular activities. How much time you will need off work, will depend on your general health, which part of your spine the foraminotomy was performed on, and the type of job you do. Generally, you should be able to return to light work within a few weeks but your full recovery may take two months.

Laminectomy

Since bone spurs can grow back after removal, another surgical option to decompress the spine in the event that they do, is laminectomy A laminectomy is a decompression procedure that enlarges the spinal canal by removing the lamina. The lamina is the bony arch that lies at the back of the vertebrae and forms the back of the spinal canal. Bone spurs can protrude into the spinal canal putting pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots. Therefore, by enlarging the spinal canal with this surgical technique, we can relieve the symptoms accompanying compressed nerves including sharp, radiating, tingling, or burning pain. Although the lamina does not grow back once removed, scar tissue will grow over the bones and replace the lamina. This will protect the nerves in the spine.

You will usually return home within 24 hours of the procedure. For the first few days after surgery, you will need help with basic activities such as bathing, dressing, and getting in and out of bed. Your total recovery time will depend on the area of your spine from which the bone spur was removed. You should get plenty of rest and reintroduced your daily activities on the advice of our doctor. You may be able to return to work within three to six weeks, depending on the type of job you have.

Other surgical techniques for bone spurs include:

  • Corpectomy: removing the entire vertebra or a part of it and reconstructing the remaining space by inserting a bone graft and metal materials.
  • Discectomy: removing the entire intervertebral disc. This procedure can either be combined with fusion or artificial disc replacement.
  • Laminotomy: a decompression technique that involves removing a portion of two adjacent laminae.

Facet Joint Osteophytes Treatment

Facet Joint Syndrome Treatment - Compresses nerve root

If bone spurs develop around the facet joints some treatment options include:

Non-Surgical Treatments for Facet Joint Osteophytes

  • Physical therapy
  • NSAIDs
  • Facet Joint Blocks Injection (corticosteroid injections)
  • Manipulation
  • Radiofrequency Ablation (Rhizotomy) of the medial branches: The medial nerve branches surround the facet joints. Ablation or “burning” these nerves will prevent pain signals from being sent to the brain.

Surgical Treatments for Facet Joint Osteophytes

  • Facetectomy: The removal or one or two facet joints.
  • Foraminotomy: Enlarging the neuroforamen, which is the opening on either side of the vertebrae that the nerve roots pass through.
  • Partial pediculectomy: The removal of a portion of one or both pedicles, which are the small bones on either side a vertebra that hold the lamina (the back portion of the vertebra) to the vertebral body (the cylindrical bone that the discs lie between). The pedicles form the top and bottom of the neuroforamen.
  • Facet Fusion Surgery: A screw can be inserted between the inferior articular process and the superior articular process (which form the facet joint) or a facet wedge fixation can be used to hold them together.
  • Spinal FusionStabilization Procedures, or Artificial Disc Replacement: The degeneration and thinning of a intervertebral disc can create pressure on the facet joints causing degeneration and the growth of bone spurs. By restoring the foraminal height using any of the aforementioned techniques, the pressure in the facet joints will be reduced or eliminated.
Surgical Treatments for Facet Joint Syndrome

At Miami Neurocisnce Center we can diagnose and provide the right treatment for bone spurs, call us at 786.871.6856 or schedule a consultation today.