New member

Beetango

Saying hello.. Good to be here...

can anyone say whether if you have hip osteoarthritis it spreads to other joints as I seem to be getting pains in new places?

[Deleted User]

Hi @Beetango, welcome to the Online Community! It's lovely to have you here.

I'm sorry you hear you're having new pains. I found this information on the Versus Arthritis page about OA of the hip, this is just one possibility and of course you should check with your doctor, but hopefully it helps:

The painful areas are usually the lower back, buttocks and groin. Some people also feel discomfort from the top of their thigh down to the knee. Sometimes it can even be felt all the way down to the ankle. This can be known as referred or radiating pain.

If your hip is badly affected, walking, standing up or bending down can suddenly become much more difficult. Your hip might also ‘lock’ for a few moments.

If you have advanced hip osteoarthritis, the muscles around the hip can become smaller and weaker due to not using them. This then puts even more strain on the joint.

The best thing you can do at home for hip osteoarthritis is exercise, as it will strengthen the muscles that support your hip joint.

Please do stick around in the Online Community, it's good to talk :)

Best wishes, Sarah (moderator)

Beetango

Hi Sarah, many thank for your warm welcome.. It feels very good to be here and share the advice and observations… Exercising is painful, but I think I must do it.. Thank you again..

pmas

Hi Beetango, I’m waiting for both hips to be replaced, so can describe my pain experience. I can’t really answer your question about whether OA spreads to other joints as I’m not medically trained.

Initially I just had groin pain on one side and thought I’d ‘pulled’ something as I was doing a lot of heavy duty gardening/landscaping at the time. GP sent me for X-ray which showed mild arthritis. Not a problem I thought. Physio gave me some muscle strengthening/stretching exercises which helped with movement a bit - but still couldn’t put my socks on! Groin pain still there, but pain also down to knee, buttocks and thighs. GP prescribed Paracetemol and Diclofenac.

Within a year the same pain started in the other groin but with a vengeance. Pain shooting down to my foot, buttocks, hip and thighs. GP added Amitriptyline to medications. Initially this really helped to stop the shooting nerve pains but I had lots of side effects.

This summer, about 18 months after initial mild OA diagnosis, I have been diagnosed as Stage 4 OA both hips + AVN (Avascular Necrosis) and am on priority list for both hips to be replaced within 12 weeks of diagnosis. Unfortunately the waiting list for this priority surgery is 72 weeks.

Now that I can no longer weight bear and my husband does everything for me, my pain has increased significantly. I’m now taking Pregabalin for the nerve pain - it helps a lot, but is a Schedule 3 drug, so I have to be careful with it.

If you have any worries about new pain, please contact your GP, they don’t want you to be in pain. I’ve found telephone appointments so useful, especially as I can’t leave the house now. Get your medication sorted, accept physio if it’s offered and maybe your X-rays need to be updated.

Good luck and take care. Pat

RogerBill

Hi @Beetango Initially my pains were in my thigh so I thought I'd pulled a muscle or something. Subsequently I had pains in my knees. For some years I'd also had occasional episodes of lower back pain. Earlier this year I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis in my left hip and nine weeks ago I had a hip replacement operation. I was told that hip osteoarthritis can cause referred pain and that the limping, etc can also put extra stress on other parts of your body and lead to pain. I'm hoping my operation will have solved or at least helped some of these other problems but I'm afraid it's a little too soon to tell.

As @SarahGF mentioned I'm sure doing whatever exercises you can does help.