T11/12 osteophyte / bone spur: symptoms and treatmets?

I don’t have osteophyte at that level but I do have post-surgical nerve damage with the same symptoms. I work with PT to try and activate my abdominal muscles and have had ‘some’ success but not enough to change the fact that I can not control my right side abs the way I can my left side. I have pretty intense pain across my waist and abs to center line and have trouble with clothing that puts pressure on that area, so higher waist bands, drawstrings etc. do not work anymore.

I am trying to determine if osteophyte in that area can have any effect on abdominal discomfort bowel function, etc. The neurosurgeon I saw recently said no, it wouldn't. But it seems there is some correlation to me. I'm seeing another Dr. for this, soon I hope, and will try to get more answers. The information on-line isn't clear either, and isn't really clear about the best non-surgical or surgical treatments.
Thanks for your reply!

@kremer1 Welcome to Connect. Have you had imaging of your entire spine? I'm asking because if there are any instances of spinal cord compression, or the spinal cord getting touched by bone spurs, etc, it can cause problems and pain below that level of compression. I had a unique situation in that I had spinal cord compression at C5/C6, and did not have any issues at the nerve roots. Surgeons tend to think about nerve root problems that fall along a predictable outcome called a dermatome map, that shows where pain is supposed to exist when a particular level has a compromised nerve root. Most of the surgeons I saw missed the correct diagnosis because they couldn't understand why I had leg pain, and pain all over my body, arms legs, abdomen, feet, etc when all of that was being caused by spinal cord compression in my neck. I found medical literature with a case like mine and a surgeon who understood this phenomenon called "Funicular Pain".

This link shows a dermatome map which maps out on the surface of the body where the spinal nerves travel.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535401/figure/article-29335.image.f1/
Spinal cord compression in the neck can cause bowel or bladder issues, and in later stages can result in incontinence. That would indicate a need for urgent surgery to decompress the spinal cord before it becomes permanent. Spinal cord compression can affect things depending on where that big bundle of nerves gets contacted. Think of it like having many wires providing electricity in a huge bundle, and if one of the wires gets damaged, it's hard to predict exactly where a problem happens because you can't map out where that wire is specifically.

Here is the medical literature I found that changed the direction of my surgical consultations toward the correct solution. I did have surgery with a C5/C6 fusion that solved the problem which is proof that this was the correct diagnosis because decompression solved all the issues.

Eur Spine J. 2011 Jul; 20(Suppl 2): 217–221.
"Cervical cord compression presenting with sciatica-like leg pain"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111492/
I helps to lead with a question such as "Is my case like this case in medical literature?" because if you find this literature AFTER the surgeon misses the diagnosis, no one wants to listen because you (the patient) are pointing out a mistake. If you put this on the table at the beginning of a consultation, the surgeon can consider it, and if they won't consider it, you will have discovered that they are not familiar with this problem. I had 5 consultations with surgeons who missed this, and one at Mayo with a surgeon who understood "funicular pain" who took me as a patient and fixed the problem.

When is your next consultation for a second opinion?