Is my Osteoarthritis spreading?
Posted , 7 users are following.
I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis of the spine about 6 weeks ago. I have had it for just over a year but it took my consultant and numerous other medical people 14 months to find it as it got a lot worse after they first tested me. In the last few weeks I have noticed that as well as my back and neck being stiff first thing in the morning my fingers, thumbs and knees are also a bit stiff and painful. In addition to this my left arm elbow joint is always painful. Could this also be Osteoarthritis?
1 like, 28 replies
Prodigious Marticulous
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Marticulous
I have stiff joints in the morning as well
It’s in my neck and knees which have been validated as arthritis
GREAT NEWS! My hands are also stiff every morning..I had a MRI and they said that my hands were free of arthritis!! Just wanting to give you a little hope! Not al stiffness means arthritis 🌟🌟🌟
susan67756 Prodigious
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Prodigious - your case illustrates the problem with these 'willy-nilly' OA diagnosis.
MRI showed no degenerative changes in the joints in your hands. So we can conclude that something else is causing your pain. I would hope your doctor is trying to figure out what, or at least referring you to a physiotherapist?
For arguments sake, lets just say it is muscle imbalance - certainly muscle imbalance and resulting trigger points DOES cause hand pain. You could try treating that with massage and exercise and maybe you'd soon be pain free.
However, in an alternative reality lets imagine that you had an identical, pain causing, muscle imbalance in your hands but you also had benign, symptom free hand OA. Xrays / MRI would have picked up the radiographic OA and it would be assumed to be the cause of your hand pain. Confident in the diagnosis of OA no one would bother to look for the REAL cause of your symptoms and your pain would go untreated.
Prodigious susan67756
Posted
I can’t put into words how much your texts mean to me! I love how knowledgeable you are and well read...
I ALWAYS read your comments!
You’re a real Dear Heart!
Respectfully
Prodigious
Marticulous Prodigious
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Prodigious Marticulous
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kate63976 Marticulous
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I have to agree with Susan and her muscle imbalance theory. I have written in before saying I'd had OA in my right hip and had been told it was OA, sacroiliac joint dysfunction etc etc. I am pretty fit and have been going to the gym for about 20 years. I read up on interval training the Peak 8 program on a sit down bike and decided to do it. After about 4 weeks I noticed a difference. I had less pain. Now it's about 2 years and I do the training 3 times a week. It takes about 20 minutes. I have absolutely no pain in this area and never believed it would happen. I can only think that the exercise had rebalanced my pelvic floor muscles. I also do a series of stretch exercises for my upper back and that seems to work as well. I now take no medication.
susan67756 kate63976
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