Severe stiffness and muscle pain.

[Bigyellow]

Is it normal to have severe stiffness with ICU nyopathy. My husband is like a plank of wood in the mornings and the stiffness in his legs is not what his stroke physio is used to. He also has severe pain in his joints at night. Is this to be expected.

[Rhyl1 Partner Moderator ICUsteps]

If you have muscle weakness due to muscle wasting or a critical illness myopathy then it is common to have stiff muscles in the morning and joint pain. It’s normal to get muscle stiffness when you do a new exercise. When you move around with weak muscles then every movement is like a new exercise. It sounds like your husband needs to pace himself through the day. As he gets stronger he can do more but it’s a fine line of doing enough to feel a bit tired but not getting exhausted.

[Sepsur]

Is it to be expected? I don’t know but I certainly was like that - my knees on occasion still feel like they go on fire and my hands can be very unwieldy- all I can say is that I improved slowly - with lots of physio. The muscles not only waste away but they shorten - so going downhill or downstairs was really hard at first - slowly I became more flexible