OA flare up

Just wondering if anyone out there, has ever had a flare up of OA and knows what I mean by ' stinging pains ?' I have severe OA in both of my hips (worse on the right side) and muddle along ordinarily with the usual pain relievers...... co-codamol, amitriptyline, TENS machine and several hot water bottles about my person, but at the moment I'm struggling. I accepted a lift from my neighbour to the garden centre on the Wednesday following Easter Monday. Gardening is my hobby and, suffering with anxiety, it's also my happy place and where I go to forget things, so I jumped at the chance of a trip out. It was a 30 minute trip there, about an hour and a half in the garden centre ( with me pushing, or rather, leaning) on the trolley and a 30 minute trip back. I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I don't get out much ( too slow walking with my stick, so don't like to hinder people with my tortoise like speed). I've not been right since that day. I'm not sure if it was the waking round, or the sitting in one position for too long in the car, but I seem to be having a flare up. Normally, my left side isn't too bad at all, but it's as painful as my right at the moment. As I said at the start, I have stinging pains at the front and side of both of my hips and I am hobbling around doing tiny footsteps with my stick, unable to weight bear on my right side at all ( normally I can shuffle a few steps without my stick inside the house). I've not felt well enough to even go into the garden and I'm having to lie down frequently, just to stretch my legs out. Can anyone suggest anything I can do, to help this flare up and the stinging pains, or even to help me walk better? I just want to get back to how I was, before the dreaded garden centre trip. Sorry for the long essay, but I'm so upset and fed up 😢

Comments

  • stickywicket
    stickywicket Member Posts: 27,697

    I'm wondering how much walking you do on a normal day. If an hour and a half is unusual then my guess is that's your culprit. And/or, if the car seat you were in was raised at the sides as some are, that, too, can play havoc with hips.

    I find the solution is to keep the muscles strong with exercises. Here are Versus Arthritis's hip exercises. There may be many that you can't do, especially the early ones but try the ones you can. They do help.https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-hips/

    If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
    Steven Wright
  • Whiskey26
    Whiskey26 Member Posts: 88
    edited 9. May 2022, 10:23

    Hi @stickywicket I tend not to walk too far on a normal day, as it's not long before I need to stop or sit down, as I start to ache. I guess I got carried away at the garden centre and foolishly thought holding on to a trolley would support me sufficiently, as I walked round. The car seat itself I'm not sure about, but it is quite a low down car and was a bit awkward to get in and out of, to say the least. Looking back, I overdid it and am now paying the price. Thanks for the link to the exercises, I'll take a look.🙂👍