Hi all, ages since I wrote but still follow, this last 4 months I am getting like pinching in my groin and goes down muscle into my knee. The pinching is unbearable now when it starts so on painkillers which are NOT the answer to my problems. Had a dexa scan about a year ago and come back mild osteoporosis/arthritis, been for 2 more xrays which came back abnormal. Just last month another X-ray which came back normal ( strange) asked my doctor if X-ray got mixed up and he said it could happen. How can it come back normal please or am I missing something ??? I upped my preds to 10mg from 5mg to see if it helped.....no it didn’t, now for some reason ? doctor cut me down to 5mg and I see him again in 3 weeks. I know my muscles are wasting away as I have been told by a chiropractor, I am using crutches also for a week and it stops me putting weight on my groin thank goodness. Has anyone any answers please as to what they think is wrong ???
Thank you, margaret x
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Margaret1951
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You can do some light stretching on your bed with a towel rolled up in the dip of your back.
Your current symptoms sound like they could be sciatica , which is a nerve related pain , which could be why the Pred did not relieve the symptoms , although clearly with the confusion with your x-rays and previous diagnosis of osteoporosis and some arthritis this will add to your pain issues and will have had alot to do with your mobility problems.
You are at the point of needing crutches for relief you definitely need them to rexray to make sure no mistakes have been made and to get your GP to refer you for appropriate physio and give you further help for your symptoms including investigating at the surgery for sciatica and potentially offering you some form of nerve relaxant.
In the meantime , initial exercises that you can do in bed to stretch and relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve include lying on your back with your arms out at the sides , palms down in a cross shape . Then with legs relaxed but straight slowly pointing your toes holding for a count of three , relaxing them then pointing them up to the ceiling , a count of three and relax. Begin with five of each build up slowly to ten of each. When you finish slowly draw you arms back to your sides.
Second , turn over onto your stomach slowly , removing your towel . Lay fully on your stomach with your arms under your chin . Lay in this position , legs straight feet flat to the bed. Start with three to five minutes upto ten minutes . You will feel the lumbar and sciatic area begin to stretch . Breath in and out deeply and slowly . When you finish move your arms down to your sides and slowly turn , drawing your knees up into a foetal position then stay in that position for a few minutes.
After you are used to these exercises add in a movement back onto your back and hold your knees up in a foetal position , holding them in place firmly with your arms for a few minutes before slowly releasing your legs again. You will feel the lower back and back of thighs lightly stretching as you do this .
You can also do the toe stretching exercises with your arms up behind your head to get additional stretching but only after you have begun to feel relief at the lower level.
It is useful to do these exercises first thing in the morning and in the evening after a warm shower or after you have used a heat pad on your lower back and groin area to relax the muscles.
You may find a sciatic hip belt helpful while you are walking or doing exercise but don't wear it all the time .
Compression tights may also give you some relief.
Increasing your mineral and fluid intake also helps with nerve pain and joint inflammation.
A menthol lotion or tiger balm rubbed in the affected areas after a heat pad or a shower also brings some relief.
Paracetamol can give some relief.
Definitely get an appointment with the GP soon for more help and enquire about hydrotherapy with the Physio Dept before other physio if you haven't been able to exercise for some time as this helps you prepare the body to cope with more activity .
Thank you I shall try this one, as will be easier on the bed. I actually rub magnesium oil in my bum cheek when I start to get a fidgety leg and somehow it actually works after about 30 mins. I will get some tiger balm tomorrow and start using that so fingers crossed. Thank you so much x
Hi Margaret, I had similar pain and went to a physio who did a lot of manipulation and massage and gave me exercises to do. Not easy but very effective.
I’m a bit worried by your not being able to get up off the floor. It’s very important that we can. At a pre retirement course a couple of years ago, a nurse asked if everyone could get down on the floor and get back up by themselves. Most could but some couldn’t. She advised them to talk to a physio and learn the most convenient way for them to get up. It may be different for each person. She said even if we didn’t do much exercise, everyone should practice getting down and up again every day.
I do keep trying to get up, last time I was stupid and put my knee down first and the pain shot straight into my groin through my muscle !! Learnt my lesson there 😱 my right leg is more or less fine, it’s this left one. The physiotherapist I went to after Xmas was crap, ie 2 movements here and there and go back home and do them, but leg bad every time, wonder what he gets paid for ???? The only relief he gave me once only was to hold by groin and stretch my hip bone down,he did it twice and it was lovely,but I can’t do that to myself unless I am double jointed ! so that must tell you it’s my hip, ahh he also told me I would have to have a new hip joint within 2 years. Oh well happy days ahead until they sort me out, I am going to look up about this bursitis see if I have those symptoms.
Well he definitely wasn’t much use. I must have been lucky, my Rheumy referred me to a great woman. She had notes from him when I arrived. Now at first the deep massage was eye wateringly painful but it eased out quickly. Maybe it’s horses for courses. Fingers crossed you get what you need, that groin pain is awful! X
Groin pain can be due to trochanteric or iliopsoas bursitis - depends which bursa is affected but either or both can be to blame.
Longer term use of higher oral doses of pred may help but a short time of 10 instead of 5 isn't really likely to. It took several months of 15mg down to 10mg to relieve mine when I first started pred. Injections have worked far better and quickly.
Thank you, I will have a chat to my doctor about an injection sounds a quicker way to get out of pain. Sometimes when I get up out of the chair I have to go slow as feels like something is getting stuck in my groin. One good thing which is on my side, my GCA I am pretty sure I am in remission with it as not had problems for months now !!!! hope it never comes back.
Once you've got this pain under control it would be good if you could make a regular practice of doing exercises like those described by others in this thread, and - if you can - get to a physiotherapist who can give you a (probably rather boring but helpful) program to follow for the rest of your life.
I shall be doing the exercises now as it looks simple for me to carry on with. I don’t sit down much as I like going in my little garden tending my Bonsai trees, I have at least 50 plus 😇 perhaps I am not doing myself any favours by not sitting,but I get bored stiff as I am not lazy at all. X
I love bonsai. I always wanted to do it, but never have. Years ago I happened to be in the market in Harrisburg Pennsylvania, and there were some there and I totally fell in love with them and bought books about them and everything. What a wonderful activity for you.
They are lovely to grow, I am no good at garden flowers though lol buy yourself a little starter tree and prune it a bit at a time to get a nice shape.
X-day doesn’t show up many problems, especially the soft tissue type and nerve issues. Ligament problems, bursitis, nerve impingement can all be excruciating and certainly feel like they should light an X-ray like a Christmas tree.
It seems that you are lacking information. Has the doc given you a detailed explanation of what sort abnormal your first two x-rays were? They need to decide whether it’s feasible that the 3rd (assuming it was of the same place) could be normal and explain by what process it has become so, or if infeasible they need to do another, but first explain to what end they are doing it. You may need referral to someone else.
He just tells me the 2 bones in hip are slowly going together, this is why I am questioning this last X-ray. The position they put me in to do the X-ray nearly had me in tears as the pain in hip was excruciating, so how can it be normal !
I am going to ask him if I can have another dexa scan as he cannot find the last one on my notes and I can’t remember when it was last done.
The morning is worse for me when I get up, so best if I get early appointment with him so he can see the pain I am in. Last night when I took my wee dogs round my park at the back of me, I walked round slow without crutches or walking stick ! I thought great ! this morning not great again 🙁
So, have they more or less said it was normal so no further action? Or is it they really don’t know how bad things have got or both? If no DEXA results then it would be a good idea and if the old one turns up, there is a useful baseline. It still might be soft tissue but a reliable x-ray needs to rule out bone or large scale joint changes first.
Yes as went into my account on line for my doctors and another doctor wrote normal down. I have not long printed out all the dates of abnormal X-rays and going to send to my regular doctor enclosing a letter asking him to look into this before I go see him. What I did notice on my files which is strange, I had those xrays done at 9.45am on the 1st August, yet the doctor at my surgery had put normal down on the 1st August. The department told me to ask for results in 3 weeks time !!! I have never had results come through on same day.
Something gone wrong somewhere, and if they don’t pull their finger out soon I shall be going higher up as fed up with this pain etc and if hospital sent wrong results I shall be going to see a solicitor!
Thank you, no one gets result same day , I never thought about that until I was looking today. Been in lot of hip pain and muscle down to my knee today and yet yesterday I had a good day !! I am sure my left hip is bigger than the other one 🤪
Hi, I had something similar a month ago. I had an appointment with my rheumy so told him about it. He said it was a trapped nerve in my groin causing pain down my leg as far as my knee. He said it would just 'go' and it did!!. It is called meralgia parasthetica. If you Google it on NHS there is a link to some exercises.
Yes it was I 😱 had problems ever since with my leg and groin, 50 years ago !! Always get a darn fidgety leg from what seems like in the groin and drives me mad, have to walk around until it hurts me. Since my PMR and GCA I can’t do stretches or knee bends till it’s gone.
It is hard when you can't do the stretches that kept you mobile. I have just been able to start doing leg and back stretches but nothing with my arms yet. You obviously need some extra support from Dr and physio to get to the bottom.of it all and get back to your stretches. 🌻
I enjoy it when I go bed at night as I have pinched my 2 little chihuahuas cool mat 🐶 I can’t lay on my left side for more than a minute as pain is bad in hip. So I stick my leg out of bed and put the mat over my hip, I have just started last night to cock my left leg over a pillow to ease it, but had a bad day today so pillow could be the reason. I will give you a laugh, when I had an mri scan I had to put my arms over my head. Time to get off the bed what happened ?? .... my shoulders got stuck 🤪 the nurse had to slowly rub them to get them back down, I never felt so embarrassed !!!! So I sympathize with you x
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