Osteoarthritis of the hip and knee

Jennifer001

Hello, my name is Jenny. I have osteoarthritis of the hip and knee, diagnosed in January 2020, which unfortunately has worsened over the last few months due to shielding, although I have tried hard to keep active. I have great difficulty in walking now, which I find very hard. I am normally a very active, outdoor loving person, and am lucky to live by the sea with my lovely husband and little chihuahua.

So far I have had no professional input other than GP telephone consultations, prescribing various pain killers. These all seem to have upset my digestuve system leading to other problems! I am hopeful of seeing a physiotherapist soon, and learning what I should be doing. My GP advised against using my indoor exercise bike because of a flare up in my knee.

It is good to find Versus Arthritis and the online community, and I look forward to sharing experiences with fellow sufferers.😀

Anna

Hello @Jennifer001 and welcome to the online community,

You’ve been diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the hip and knee which is becoming increasingly painful and you’re finding it more difficult to keep moving.

Many of our members have arthritis of the hip and knee and can identify with your wish to keep moving but the pain that prevents it. It seems like a vicious circle doesn’t it - the more painful your joints become, the less able you are to move, and the less able you are to move, the more painful it becomes. Your doctor has advised you not to undertake high impact exercise such as on the exercise bike, but I wonder if it’s possible for you to try some gentle exercise, maybe swimming for example, that supports your joints while keeping them mobile?

Versus Arthritis has several information pages on gentle exercise that can help ease pain in your hips and knees you might find them of interest:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-hips/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-knees/

While you’re waiting for your appointment with the physio, you could give these a try. You can start slowly, and you’ll gradually build up your strength and mobility so that soon you’ll be back to walking with your little chihuahua! . It sounds like you live in a lovely part of the country near to the sea and I can imagine you have some beautiful walks close to home.

This is a great community for like minded people to share their experiences and support each other. Please do have a look round the forum and join in any conversations you’re interested in - you’ll be most welcome.

Best wishes,

Anna ( Mod)

Lilymary

Hi @Jennifer001 , welcome to this lovely forum. Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I was very active too until my hip reared its very ugly head in Feb 2020. Like you, it went downhill very fast, and by March xrays revealed I needed a new hip - I hadn’t even realised I had arthritis till then. I had my new hip done last month, by which time I had given up almost all leisure activities, and could barely manage a trip round a supermarket. Walks were out of the question, and I could only just function at work.

Oh the joys of codeine- induced constipation! One thing I don’t miss now! I battled mine with cosmocol (or movicol), which you can get from your GP, and sennakot. I found it needed a combination of the two, one to reduce the concrete-like consistency and the other to get things actually moving. Some weeks were worse than others, it was a constant battle getting the balance right.

it’s irritating when GPs are only doing telephone consultations, how can they assess your range of movement over the phone? My lovely GP agreed to see me shortly after the first lockdown started, agreed it was time for an X-ray, which was sent on to a musculoskeletal consultant, (telephone consultation that time), who put me straight on the list for a new hip. Had she not done so, this could have wasted months. So do push for a face to face and X-ray if you can. Alternatively, your physio may also be able to write to your GP recommending this, if they feel it’s appropriate. Given the level of pain you describe and the impact it’s having on your life, it sounds to me like it’s time this went up a gear.