Facebook Pixel

Comment Reply

(reply to Anonymous)

Hi Anon

The bones don't really fuse per se, at least not in the complete way they would in a surgical fusion, but if in the case of spinal stenosis the vertebrae have a lot of friction and arthritis, they can form osteophytes (commonly called bone spurs) and these osteophytes can sometimes become very large and sort of naturally fuse vertebrae in a spot. Think of it like a long bone scar that reaches up to the next bone, if that makes sense.

This would not be a common situation. It is much more likely in ankylosing spondylosis, another autoimmune disease.

October 8, 2010 - 6:41am

Reply

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.
By submitting this form, you agree to EmpowHER's terms of service and privacy policy