Just been told have arthritis in my feet, but my job will make it progress faster
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Hi after approx 8-9 months of pain in my big toe joints both feet, I have just been told I have arthritis in both joints. I will be referred to a orthopaedic surgeon will the probability of looking to fuse the joints sometime in the future. The type I have I been told is fast onset and usually shows after the age of 70 I'm 43.
The problem I have is my job I will not say exactly what it is but I walk approximately 10-12 miles a day delivering outside. I will obviously now have to approach my companies occupational health as my GP has said my job in current form is not suitable.
Im absolutely gutted as a good few years ago I had a chemical imbalance in the brain which led me to be dismissed medically from my role with a completely different company and industry. Has anyone been through occupational health for arthritis and what could I expect as the outcome.
Thank you in advance.
0 likes, 3 replies
cjb106 evans2015
Posted
I think it's fairly obvious who your employers are and if you search online you will find a lot of information (some of it in chat rooms) about other employees' experiences with your employers occupational health provider. It's also evident that your employers contract with the OH provider was reshaped in 2017 to reduce the services the latter provided. I can see one online document which specifically states that: "Case management for musculoskeletal and mental health related absence will cease."
In theory, one would hope that your employer could provide you with an alternate role that doesn't require so much walking.
Another aspect is that the job has brought on this condition. 43 does sound very young. Are your employers providing you with suitable footwear?
I would be inclined to have a discussion with your union representative in the first instance.
mark12977 evans2015
Posted
hello sorry to hear about your osteoarthris I have the same in both feet and ankles, it started out as gout when I was in my mid twenties, I worked for the Royal Mail as a postman since i started as a cadet. I have alot of pain im now 44 so just a year older and walk like an 80 year old. I have steroid injections that help and take alot of medication. I was medically retired from the post when I was 22 and receive a pension from them, but the last year or so got worse especially in the snow when i was house bound for 5 months and even now im struggling because each flare makes the recovery so much longer. Hope you get things on track and feel a little better.
Anhaga evans2015
Posted
I hope things get sorted and you are in better shape soon. Just a word about fusing joints - there are other techniques available in some areas which will allow you to keep joint mobility so please don't do anything irreversible until you are sure it's what you want and need. I've had arthritis in my feet since I was a child, I think. Doctors have looked at my big toe joints and suggested surgery, but I have kept on manipulating the joints and maintaining some flexibility and I have to say as the years have gone by, and always wearing suitable footwear, they actually give me less trouble now than when I was younger. I am now in my early 70s and my toes are all flexible, if misshapen.