Walking difficult too much pain.

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Amelia7881
Amelia7881 Member Posts: 2
edited 28. Nov 2023, 14:09 in Living with arthritis

I have osteoarthritis in lower back and walking far is too painful.

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  • chrisb
    chrisb Moderator Posts: 682
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    Hi @Amelia7881  

    Welcome to the versus arthritis forum.

     I see that you suffer with osteoarthritis in your back which is making walking very challenging. 

    If you haven’t already visited our website, the following links may be useful for you:

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

     

    https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis/

     

    There will be many forum members who also live with lower back OA so there should be plenty of support for you. You may wish to elaborate a little on your condition e.g. how long you’ve lived with the condition, your symptoms, steps you’ve taken to try to manage your condition. 

    I hope you receive some useful feedback. 

    Best Wishes

    ChrisB (Moderator)

    Need more help - call our Helpline on 0800 5200 520 Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm

  • DebbieL
    DebbieL Member Posts: 64
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    Hiya,

    I am 55 and have OA in my lower spine L5 S1 and low height disc. I don’t know the details of your condition but I can share my journey and maybe offer some hope of improvement. I suddenly started with chronic back pain in Jan 18 after suffering from shingles. I eventually got a MRI scan in May 19 and a diagnosis of OA.

    At my worst I went to work - desk job- but needed painkillers during the day, the drive home was agony and I usually took stronger painkillers and went to bed when I got home.

    I have made good progress since then. A specialist spine physio said that completely stopping exercise was the worst thing I could have done.

    The exercises the physio gave me really helped. I started walking more and took up ballet and stretch classes. I reduced my work days -I only sit at a desk 3 days a week now and move regularly. I still need painkillers every night to sleep but rarely need them in the day. Every morning I wake up in pain, but once I have got up and started moving it subsides mostly. I still have the odd bad day where I take the painkillers and go back to bed, but not so often now.

    I hope this helps but feel free to ask any questions. I was devastated when I got the diagnosis and thought that the future would only be pain and reduced mobility. I found I could do more than I thought and with some discussions with my GP and trial and error have found the painkillers that work for me.

    Take care

    Debbie

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