Kym Marsh first burst on the scene as part of the band HEAR’Say in 2001, but since leaving the group in 2002, Kym has added several strings to her bow. Her most notable credit is playing Michelle Connor on the ITV soap opera Coronation Street, which turned out to be an astute career move – the soap star received the award for Best Female Dramatic Performance at the 2017 British Soap Awards for her acting turn. Kym has since left Coronation Street but shows no sign of bowing out of the limelight. Instead, the star has focussed her attention on her weekly column for OK! Magazine.
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Kym has used her column to share personal details about her life, including opening up about a painful health condition.
Kym revealed she’d been feeling pain in her pelvis for a long time, and MRI scan pointed to a problem with her coccyx – a small bone at the base of the spine.
She divulged: “I’ve had pain in my pelvis for while now. I went for an MRI scan and I’ve been told I have a bone spur on the tip of my coccyx.
“It’s basically an overgrowth of bone, which is pushing into muscles and tendons and causing me discomfort.”
According to the NHS, bone spurs, also called osteophytes, are bony lumps (bone spurs) that grow on the bones of the spine or around the joints.
“They often form next to joints affected by osteoarthritis, a condition that causes joints to become painful and stiff,” explained the health body.
Osteophytes can grow from any bone, but they’re most often found in the neck, shoulder, knee, lower back, fingers or big toe, foot or heel, notes the health site.
What are the symptoms?
According to the NHS, osteophytes do not always cause symptoms but they can lead problems if they:
- Rub against other bone or tissue
- Restrict movement
- Squeeze nearby nerves
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A number of problems can arise if this happens, such as pain and stiffness in the back and your neck can pinch nearby nerve and cause pain, pins and needles, numbness or weakness in the arms.
Other problems include:
- Shoulder can limit the space available for tendons and ligaments, and may be linked to tendonitis or a rotator cuff tear
- Hip and knee can reduce the range of movement and are often associated with painful arthritis
- Knee may cause pain when you bend and extend your leg
- Fingers can cause lumps
How to treat it
Osteophytes do not usually cause pain, but the associated arthritis might so if you’re in pain, the NHS recommends taking painkillers, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen to alleviate the symptoms.
Additionally, if you’re overweight, losing weight will help by relieving some of the strain on your joints.
“A physiotherapist may also be able to help you by recommending exercises that can strengthen the muscles surrounding the problem area, and by helping to improve your range of movement,” noted the NHS.
According to the health site, surgery can sometimes be used to help manage any underlying arthritis in the joint – it can be helpful for osteoarthritis that affects your hips, knees or joints, particularly those at the base of your thumb.
“There’s usually no need to remove an osteophyte, unless it’s irritating a nerve in the spine or restricting a joint’s range of movement,” explained the health body.
If you do need surgery to remove an osteophyte, your surgeon will explain the procedure’s risks and benefits, it added.
Kym opted for this course of treatment, although in the meantime, she decided to engage in more physical activity to help her manage.
She said: “I have to have a procedure done to correct it and I’m told exercising won’t cause it any damage.
“So I’m looking for a new personal trainer and hope to be in shape again by summer.”
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