Help please with spinal osteoarthritus

[Wheatece]

Hi,

After 6 months of appointments for X -ray, MRI, physiotherapy, spinal surgeon, and finally pain consultant, turns out nothing can be done.

I have facet joint arthropathy. What exercises and food can anyone recommend for arthritis of the spine please ? I do not smoke and am not over weight.

I am 70 and have been retired for 2 years but have a lot more living to do hopefully.

The pain in my back is awful but I try to limit the use of painkillers.

Thanks,

Colin

[Hidden]

I have oa in my neck.. some of the exercises in this link have helped me a lot.

arthritisresearchuk.org/

But before you try exercises because it is your spine, make sure your docor tells you that it is safe to do them.

[deejames]

Wheatece Hi . Sorry to hear you hAve degeneration in your spine. It's really important to keep moving and to keep the area as flexible as possible. I would go to a chiropractor ( not for manipulation however) for an assessment and advice on what exercises you should and can do to keep that area from becoming too rigid. I feel that exercises for osteoarthritis need to be taught by a professional to make sure they are being done correctly. Being able to engage and work your credit muscles is so impotent to protect the area. It's become a habit with me now to 'turn on' these muscles whenever I lift anything or use my back in any way

The pain in your spine might be causing your posture and gait to be altered which can lead to problems with your hips and legs so this could be another area where professional advice will help prevent problems.

I find a Tens machine very helpful to control pain if yiu want to reduce medication use. I use ice packs too if I feel I have inflamed the area by too much activity.

I try to walk every day to keep muscles active.

Dee

[JudyW5 in reply to deejames]

Hello Weatece. I used to think that nothing could ever help my back pain. I have disintegrating discs and spondylothisesis (vertebrae not on top of each other properly in two separate places) in my lower spine. My back specialist doesn't want to operate as I have a heart condition.

Now I know my conditions are in my lower spine but here are a couple of things which helped me and might help you.

Before i was properly diagnosed, I went to a private physio (about £40 a session) and she gave me 20 mins of ultrasound and 20mins of megapulse (a wavelength that introduces warmth which stays in the body to help the muscles relax). I didn't respond well to anything which stimulated my muscles like acupuncture or massage as that made my muscles go into spasms so this treatment was very good and I used to have it about every 3 weeks. Unfortunately you can't get it from the NHS as their policy is not to pay for anything which only relieves pain rather than cures. So ultrasound only for the healing of wounds. But these things go in fashions so that may change in the future. You might find an infrared lamp helps, though it didn't help me very much in the end.

The second thing that has helped has been radiotherapy denervation, from the hospital pain clinic. This is a process where the endings of the nerves that come out of the facet joints are destroyed by radio waves (another name is facet joint nerve ablation). They may only do this for lower back pain, but it is worth asking, particularly as your facet joints are affected. It didn't help immediately as it changed my posture so I could stand more upright and all my muscles protested because they weren't used to it.

My muscles were also very weak from being nearly bedridden. They are now improving through some of the exercises from arthritis research org and some adapted Pilates exercises. In some places there are Pilates groups run especially for those with injured backs or those recovering from operations on their backs. These are sometimes provided by the NHS or can be private and therefore cost something. A really good Pilates teacher should be able to make allowances for any injury or condition that you have and there is nearly always an alternative way of stretching particular muscles without putting strain on the parts that are weak or in pain.

Hope this helps -

Judy