Arthritis or hyper mobility?

[JustLauraT1985]

Hi, I’m new to this and to be honest I’m not even sure if I’m in the right place but here goes.

A little bit of background, I used to do a lot of judo when I was in my early 20’s and I used to work in a shop, lugging in deliveries etc. Did this for a lot of years and then got a second job in a Post Office, lifting heavy post bags etc. My left shoulder would absolutely kill, I had to swallow ibrophren and paracetamol by the fistful and nothing would help with the pain. My mam, who is legally blind, could see how swollen my shoulder was when she was putting deep heat on my shoulder. Anyways went to the doctor and got referred to the physio where I found out that I have hyper mobility in my joints and that my shoulder is unstable. Did the physio, and the only time I have problems is around Christmas. Part and parcel of working in a Post Office.

Cut to last week, I was building my chest of drawers, after standing up or rather trying to my left knee gave way and it felt like it was in cramp (pretty sure that’s not possible) and it seemed to feel fine after about five minutes where the pain was awful (different to the shoulder pain that feels like I’m getting pins and needles in it all the time). I woke up the following morning and my knee felt fine, went for a walk and about halfway through my knee started to feel funny, like it was going to give way at any second and it was aching. Then today (6/7) towards the end of my shift my knee gave way again and I nearly face planted at work. Again it felt odd after a spike in pain. Still feels strange. Depending on which way I move it, like when I’m changing gears, it hurts a little bit. But for the most part it’s more of an ache. So I’ve put a hot water bottle on it, heat helps my shoulder, and it seems to be helping.

My question is this: is this the start of arthritis or is it the hyper mobility? Not sure what to do.

Thank you very much!

[Happyrosie]

Hello JustLaura. Yes this is the right place to make enquiries about this kind of thing, and some posters may be able to guide you better than me. But, we’re not doctors or physios. Personally I think you need to see a physio.

In my part of the UK we ‘self refer’ to the local Musculoskeletal Unit by filling in an online form - and if we go to the doctors first that’s what they tell us to do. Long waiting list. In the meantime, have a chat with your pharmacist to see if they can suggest something to help.

[JustLauraT1985 in reply to Happyrosie]

Thank you! I’ll have a look and see if we have a self referral thing up here too. I don’t really want to be bothering the doctors anyway with what’s going on so if I can self refer I will! Yeah I’ll have a word with the pharmacist first actually. They might be able to point me in the right direction for the self referral. Thank you for your reply.

[Batty1]

Did you have MRI done of the knee ? It’s possible to have torn a ligament or meniscus and with your history of Judo and walking along with heavy work yup it’s possible and you should ask for a MRI sadly most doctors do x-rays first which show nothing but changes in bones and no tendon issues.

[JustLauraT1985 in reply to Batty1]

Hi, no I haven’t had an MRI. This has literally just started bothering me in the last week. Which I know is early but because of the problems with my shoulder I won’t be taking any chances with my knee. Thank you for the advice!

[Batty1 in reply to JustLauraT1985]

Early or late doesn’t matter the body is not on a time clock it can crash and burn with little to no notice and I bet if you sat down and really thought about your current knee issues you probably had clues that something was going on with knee for a while.

It happens.

[JustLauraT1985 in reply to Batty1]

Quite possibly. I’ll have a think in between customers lol. Thank you so much for the advice.