What are bone spurs in the knee?

[kneepain57]

i have bone spurs in my right knee. i didn't know that they could be removed. when the dr. told me just what they were, and nothing more. now i'm having a bit of locking and pain in rt. knee.it can be very painful and it's unexpected when it decides to act up. i haven't any cartilage in my rt. knee and have arthritis in that knee. should i see someone else? i'm not getting any help for the pain.

[WyrDachs]

 I find it really amazing that they remove the spurs thru arthoscopy.  I felt the same like you, knee would lock up and I had knee pain.  I had surgery last Friday (4/9/2010).  I had the recheck today, everything looks good and the stitches were removed and I can stop using the crutches.  Monday I start P/T.   The Doc suggested that I take the painkiller an hour before P/T.  I hope I can eventually stop limping.

I'm getting my LK repaired in June, same reason.  To be honest, I'm looking for to doing it and getting on with my life and hopefully pain free. 

This will be the 2nd repair on this knee (R) and in June it will be the 2nd for the other (LK).

[skierboy]

Bone spurs are apparently most pronounced in people who have had partial or full knee replacements.  Once the ends of the femur and tibia are removed and the new knee device is installed, the bones go crazy trying to set things right again.  But if they do not interfere with remaining ligaments, etc. they are not a practical problem.

After a microfracture on the lateral side of my left knee I developed several osteophytes.  Only one of these gives me any problem.  It is on the lateral side and occasionally "twangs" a ligament or tendon that must pass over it when I bend my knee (mostly when I straighted out the leg).  As a result, I've learned to never straighten my leg when I'm on my right side and my left leg is elevated a bit.  Guaranteed !00% twang possibility with accompanying sharp pain.  It's remarkable how one can change one's movement habits almost instinctively in order to avoid future pain events.

My surgeon is not inclined to remove the spur out of concern that the new fiberous cartilage might be damaged at the same time.  So for the present I'm living with the spur.  If I ever need additional work on that knee, the spur will GO.

[tibialpatient]

I am not a doctor, but I just had tibial osteotomy (okay 10 weeks ago) because the inner portion of my knee is pretty much bone on bone due to some bowed legs and a lot of sports. 

When looking at the x-ray, you see what look like bone spurs that come just off the bone where the joint meets.  Doctor said that his is typical when two bones hit as it is a function of the bones hitting and looks kind of like the bone has literally been squeezed out and formed a little ridge around the joint.  He said that the tendons can catch on the spurs when they move causing irritation.

Once the problem is corrected, these spurs can go away as long as they are not hitting anymore.  We'll see.  Only 10 weeks into it and still have the external fixator.

My two non-doctor cents.

[cjmcdontruckin]

i have bone spurs in my right knee. i didn't know that they could be removed. when the dr. told me just what they were, and nothing more. now i'm having a bit of locking and pain in rt. knee.it can be very painful and it's unexpected when it decides to act up. i haven't any cartilage in my rt. knee and have arthritis in that knee. should i see someone else? i'm not getting any help for the pain.

I have the same promblem. I had to doctors tell me that i have them in my knee. I went to another doctor hoping they will just take them out but he is telling me that i dont have them and that its something else. It hurts when i bend my knee and i have allot of swelling. Myself Im tired of the pain the shots and physical thearpy. I dont know what to think or what to do because evry doctor is different and always want to try something that has already been tried. I just want them out and want to quit hurting. I gotta go to physical thearpy so im gonna try what he says and if it doesnt work im gonna tell him straight up hes gotta do something different.

[skierboy]

An update to my May 9, 2011 post on this topic.   A friend of mine who has different knee issues recently recommended aqua jogging as something that really strengthens the leg muscles w/o the pounding pain that comes from regular walking or running.  I tried it in the pool (it requires you wearing a flotation belt).  For the first several minutes I had a problem because periodically a tendon on the lateral side of my left knee would would catch when riding over the bone spur I described in my earlier posting.  That's a very uncomfortable feeling, and I thought I'd have to stop the aqua jogging.

Then the "twanging" went away!  I don't know whether I simply wore down the bond spur over time and repeated abration of the tendon against the spur or whether something else happened.  I suspect the former.  But since that day, I have had no real instances of the tendon being "caught" by the bone spur.  I periodically still feel the tendon rub over the spur, but it does not catch the way it did earlier.  My my orthopedic surgeon apparently was right about NOT going in to surgically remove such spurs (as a general rule).

I've only done aqua jogging once or twice since the first time, but I have never had the major bone spur issue return.  Se at least this is a "positive" development in my growing history of knee problems.

[HerbM]

This is an old thread but worth of rehabilitation AND now there are numerous YouTube videos of both Hip and Knee replacements showing actual removal of Ostephytes (or bone spurs.)

If you are curious you can watch such surgeries (sorry, watched so many can't recall WHICH show this the clearest but most full surgeries do show it) or search for these words:

Osteotome and Rongeur

Osteotome are basically chisels (from osteo = bone + tome = cut).

The Rongeur (from French for "gnaw") used for osteophytes in many surgery videos looks (to me) like a pair of large channel locks or large vise grip with a nipper (instead of clamp jaws) on the end.

(Rongeurs are used for other surgical purposes and may differ in design.)

https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&biw=1233&bih=631&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Rongeur+surgery+|+instrument+hip+osteophyte&oq=Rongeur+surgery+|+instrument+hip+osteophyte&gs_l=img.3...34546.45373.0.45853.11.10.1.0.0.0.468.1562.0j1j1j2j1.5.0....0...1c.1.53.img..11.0.0.jHzvrQ9fono

[goldfish77]

I developed a bone spur on my femur as a result of a football injury.  I was operated on in 1982, the spur had torn through the cartilage and was rubbing on the patella.  This was before they used arthroscopes so they cut off the bottom of my knee cap and took out most of my cartilage.  My knee was scoped in 1987 to remove scar tissue.  I developed patellarfemural syndrome  and tendonitis as a result.  lots of ice and more recently electric stimulation have kept me playing hockey all these years.  Also I need electric stimulation to drive any distances, before estim  I had to stop once an hour to stretch mt knee

[Clarkey]

I think it a common condition to have after knee surgery for bone spurs to appear that's best left alone unless it is causing rubbing and friction that's having a negative impact on the mechanics of the knee. A bone spur has also been picked up on my last MRI scan that was done in December 2015.

On further evaluation of the MRI one may appreciate a slightly bigger distal pole of the patella with a bone spur which may be affecting the fat pad, however the signal of the tendon is normal. In addition Professor Snow was a little concerned about developing of patella Baja after surgery.

Nearly 14 months later I am having another MRI scan of my right knee this coming Friday 27th January that I am hoping picks up new problems. Will find out if the bone spur is the cause to my current right knee pain and discomfort I am experiencing right now. If it is then it might need removing taking a risk in the hope I will be 3rd time lucky with scope #3! This is now looking likely to happen after all PT and conservative treatments have not improved the knee pain with limited mobility.

Here is a good link about the symptoms the causes of bone spurs and how to go about getting it treated none invasively before opting for surgery.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bone-spurs/basics/symptoms/con-20024478

Good luck to any members trying to sort out their bone spurs.

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