Physio

sarajane1965

Hello i was told last year that i have arthritis early onset in my knees,over the past few months my hips have started to hurt cant lay on my side anymore without pain,and yesterday i could hardly walk with the pain in both my knees and hips, ive rang my doctors this morning and have managed to get an appointment for physio i suppose my question is will it help with the stiffness and pain and is there any particular questions i should ask

thank you,

Sara

stickywicket

It will help, @sarajane1965 . It won't cure it so don't look for that. But strong muscles support our joints. This does make them less painful ànď helps to slow down damage. Exercise(s) can be the last thing we feel like doing at a time when we really need them. Listen to your physio. Don't overdo or underdo them. I hope they help you as much as they do me.

frogmorton

They should help yes I agree with @stickywicket even if you eventually need surgery on your joints. the fact that your muscles and tendons will be stronger really helps our recovery from such operations.

Good luck

Toni x

annabanana

Hi @sarajane1965 , thank you for posting on the online community.

@stickywicket has some really good advice, the only thing I wanted to add is that I recommend tracking your symptoms/pain before meeting with your physio as it is something I found has helped me immensely. I've attached a link to the Versus Arthritis Arthritis Tracker which I personally use, in my experience it makes it so much easier to describe things such as my pain to physiotherapists/doctors.

I hope your physio helps with your stiffness and pain, good luck!

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/young-people/arthritis-tracker/

Maya_m

Hi @sarajane1965

Exercise is extremely important to maintain or even regain mobility. Stronger muscles can reduce the stress to joints and structures around the joint. Depending on the type of arthritis and level of inflammation, other treatment might be appropriate too. I am very much into sports and it definitely helped me through. Possibly delayed or reduced the flare up.

Best wishes!

Nurina

I agree with above. Exercise is the most important thing. Muscle and strength are the support for your joints and the movement helps with the calcium regulation, weight loss and many other important things like hormones or anxiety. As we get older, maintaining a good muscle mass could save us from many problems. If your legs are in pain, start with seated exercises that are very easy and can make a big difference in your life.

Take care

KC1

so much good advice already.

I was pretty fit when/until OA really got bad and painful - could run 5k, garden all day, walk for miles etc. I found the initial thought of ‘more and/or different’ exercises a bit counterintuitive. But they make a huge difference. Your physio will listen to how you describe how you feel, what your pain is like etc and will probably test how mobile/flexible your joints are. They will talk about you and your goals and, in my experience come up with exercises that are the right fit for you.

As suggested above, don’t over or under do them. My first exercises were sitting squats, bridge and the crab. I was introduced to the escape pain website and after a month given a referral to the gym. At the gym I spent time on a bike gradually building time, distance and resistance. I added weights and a few other upper body exercises to stop me getting bored. While walking remained difficult overall my strength improved, I had less and more manageable pain/discomfort which kept me going until I had my THR just over 6 weeks ago. My recovery has been great I’m walking 2-3 miles at a time with no issues and no crutches - appreciate we are all different and how it’s been for me may be different for you/others -my physio puts a lot of it down to all the work I put in before my op.

As others have said - well managed exercise is absolutely the way to go. Good luck.

aucuparia

Thanks All,

I can't give any advice but only confirm how I am doing. I agree we are all different and have to find what works. And what you want to do.

Strangely it is reassuring to hear from lots of people describe the same problems. And finding similar solutions. I decided to treat my arthritis as if it was a sporting injury. It put my head in the right place to look at excercise.

It was just over a year ago when I walked in to the doctors using a stick and doing a poor imitation of a bad actor playing Richard III.

Like KC1 before then I would regularly walk miles up and down fells and keep going all day etc even with creeky knees and dodgy ankles.

It has taken a year of structured excercise including NHS and private physio advice, moving with leon and 6 weeks of the escape pain project, to get to where I am now.

Hard work but worth it for small gains.

Last week I was climbing step ladders and fixing curtain rails. (again)

At first I was scared of pain from excercise. The best physio advice I got was how to judge how far to push the excercise and when to stop. I confess I don't always stick to the advice . When I start to feel better and have less pain ,I do too much and then regret it. But thats just me.

Good luck

Trish22

hi!

I’ve just posted on the “living with arthritis” section, doubting the benefits of exercise in terms of the extreme stiffness I’m experiencing all over my body. So it was good to come across this thread to remind me and motivate me to exercise.

I had a sudden onset of knee OA a couple of years ago and have worked very hard since then to get on top of things, trying various things but mainly physio and exercise. The pain has reduced hugely and is manageable which I’m grateful for. But the stiffness remains a constant and I’m beginning to think exercise is the cause. When I refrain from exercising the stiffness subsides. Normally, I use my exercise bike most days, I do a couple of Versus Arthritis exercise videos each week and walk to the park or woods near me at least twice a week when I have the grandchildren. I don’t think I’m over doing it as the pain has reduced significantly. I rarely use pain killers now whereas initially I took them everyday.

I wondered if anybody has similar experience with stiffness and whether they have any advice. Or is it interchangeable/ the same as pain? I’d be interested to hear what people think.

Best wishes,

Trish