Diagnosed with Arthritis? Having Pain? Read This!
This is best explained through a story of a female patient from when I first started providing physical therapy. This lady, we’ll call her Susan, had a long history of hip pain and was diagnosed with moderate arthritis of her hip as was viewed on x-rays by her physician. He suggested her that her pain was from the arthritis in her hip, and she needed an entire hip replacement! She did not want to get the hip replacement as she thought it was too aggressive and she was too old (over 70), so she lived with the pain for 5+ years before finally finding me.
I was the 3rd physical therapist she saw over the years to help with her hip pain. She told me that her pain was mostly on the side and back of her hip and hurt mostly with prolonged walking, standing, and sitting. She also said that she couldn’t lay on that side because the pain was too unbearable and was constantly tossing and turning while sleeping with occasional sharp stabs of pain. All of these symptoms are NOT SIGNS OF ARTHRITIS! These are signs of soft tissue injury. Long story short, her pain was significantly better after only a couple of visits and was almost gone after 1 month. She never received a hip replacement and she got back into hiking and walking everyday. How is this possible? She had bursitis in her hip, which is much more treatable with conservative means.
Her physician assumed that because she had arthritis in her hip (as most of us do over the age of 40) and was over 70 years old, it was the reason she was in pain. However, she described her symptoms like bursitis, not arthritis. Here’s how to know if your pain is NOT ARTHRITIS:
1) Pain that worsens with activity - For arthritis, motion is lotion, but with bursitis if you continue doing activity the pain generally worsens.
2) You can touch the pain - Arthritis is inside the joint and is untouchable from outside of your body. Poking an arthritic joint does not hurt. If you poke an area on your body and say, “ow!” It’s most likely a soft tissue injury, like bursitis.
3) You have “flare-ups” - The standard type of arthritis (osteoarthritis) does not have flare-ups with pain, but if you’re knee gets “flared up” after shopping all day, or because the weather changed, that’s not arthritis, especially if swelling around the area changes.
4) Stabbing/pinching pains - Arthritis is known for it’s stiffness and achiness, especially in the morning. If you experience sharp, stabbing, or pinching pains, (especially with stairs) it’s most likely soft tissue injury (tendon, ligament, bursa) and not arthritis.
If you experience any of the above symptoms, your pain is most likely not from arthritis and is treatable without completely replacing the joint or doing endless cortisone shots.
