Every morning when my grandmother got out of bed, she’d hold her ankles and groan. Then gritting her teeth the poor woman would drag herself around for her daily chores. Washing, cleaning and cooking as she limped along. If you rang her up, you could almost hear the pain in her voice. We are a close knit family and would rush to her everyday; it hurt us to see the pain in her eyes. Sometimes if you paid attention you could even hear the clicking of her joints, I shudder to think the pain the poor lady had to endure.

Finally we forced her to see the doctor, and she was diagnosed with bone spurs or what is medically known as osteophytes. The reasons for this condition are many, the main one being arthritis. The doctor explained to her that the body increases the surface area around the joint to better distribute weight, unfortunately this results in painful bone spurs. The good thing was that her arthritis was also being addressed. Pain is always an indication of something wrong.

She was advised rest and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. To my surprise, the very young handsome doctor even prescribed ice packs 4 to 5 times a day.

Of course other remedies were suggested and even used by my grandmother; she has made a list of the most effective ones. Her Indian neighbor suggested turmeric to be taken 3 to 4 times a day on an empty stomach. The yellow pigment curcumin has anti-inflammatory properties. As a gift to a wonderful painless world I bought her the prettiest pair of sensible shoes, she of course scolded me for the money I spent, but proudly wears it around.

There is of course another twist to this happy story, recently I had heel spurs. You see many parts of the body are also prone to it, in fact any where that there is a joint up can get a bone spur. Now this could even be at the elbows, spine, knees, and shoulders.

This was a bad time for me, it was excruciating to get up in the morning and put my feet down. I began hobbling around, and complaining. My grandmother called me up, and gave me the home remedies that she had so carefully preserved. Turmeric and cold packs did wonders, so did some stretching exercises recommended by my doctor.? This time my grandmother bought me a pair of sensible shoes that I treasure.

Bone spurs usually occur around middle age and above but it can come earlier. It is said to be hereditary, or could even be caused by poor diet or an injury. Though it is linked to arthritis but like many illnesses there is no one preventable cause.

If you suffer from it, try the home remedies first, these can vary from cold packs to hot fomentation, turmeric and even foot exercises. Most of all, work towards curing it, don’t live with it  bone spurs are just too painful.