Fleeting pain?

Options
N1gel
N1gel Member Posts: 161
in Living with arthritis

I've officially had OA in my left elbow for 5 or 6 years, and my right thumb is now arthritic (I use my arms a lot for mobility, more than most) these are both a given, a sort of low level hum of pain going on in the background.

When I had my elbows scanned a few years back the right elbow was declared 'really quite a good joint' - altho' I remember at the time thinking 'it's not right', I told a surgeon at the time and his response was 'if it's not bothering you now it's ok'.

The last 3 or 4 weeks I've noticed fleeting pains more often in my right elbow - I've still got full movement, no swelling, no grating, sometimes it's inside the joint sometimes out, but it's never really long enough to get a grip on. I do things that ought to set it off but they don't - it just seems to come out of thin air.

When I look back at what I've just written I think I must be imagining it all - anyone else had this?

Comments

  • Lilymary
    Lilymary Member Posts: 1,742
    Options

    If you have OA developing in a joint, there may be times when a certain movement grates the joint or snips a nerve, so I guess it’s possible. My left hip occasionally whimpered at me till I had a fall and it all kicked off big time. I have OA in my right hip too, but mostly that’s without symptoms, but now it’s doing so much more of the work to compensate for what its partner is up to, it also has a little grumpy moment from time to time.

  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    Options

    The medical profession say that OA in the elbow is rare, what they don’t say is that so many arthers out of a thousand will suffer from it. On the positive side, it may well be a strain injury that’s not healing? I had my tendon relieved back in the nineties and still get a bit of gyp now and then.

    To stop your scarred tissue attaching itself to the outer covering of the bone (periosteum) you need to massage it, a physio can do it for you if you’re squeamish? If it does attach then it’s shortening of the muscle/tendon that causes the pain, surgery cuts the tissue away and a caste holds your elbow at an angle so the tendon/muscle is held away from the site during healing. Doing a series of stretches can also help, an osteopath or physio can show you what do.

    A visit to the above will soon tell you what’s going on.

    pits a grin, honest!

  • N1gel
    N1gel Member Posts: 161
    Options

    Thanks Airwave,

    One elbow definitely is OA. I'm not convinced the other is OA because it's not the same type of pain. Now to get hold of a physio...

  • Airwave!
    Airwave! Member Posts: 2,466
    Options

    P.S. the grating of a joint is called crepitus i.e. bone on bone, the cartilaginous tissue with a softer inside has worn away wholly or partly. Sometime scar tissue can form in its place after a while and stop the noise and some pain.


    it’s a grin, honest!

Back to top

Categories