any Physios here? Arthritis treatement !

[ElizabethHoover]

Hi
I have had back discomfort for a while - now with a DX of arthritis and tbh i am GUTTED about it.

Anyway, I had 4 rather useless private physio sessions in the summer where the physio never mentioned the possibility of arthritis, put a TENS on it, massaged it a bit and that was it. No exercise, nothing.

i have two qs
a) should she have been able to suggest it, or tell me to get an xray?
b) is there any point in my contacting them if so?

I felt it was an utter waste of money.

Not a physio but I had a diagnosis of slipped discs and some arthritis. Awful nerve type pain.
I had an MRI then injections into the arthritis which helped. I'm also working on my core which was non existent.

I just feel the physio was bloody sneaky carrying on massaging me when maybe she should have felt my spine was all cream crackered?

I've seen a couple of physios for my back, as has DH. Usually they have done what you mentioned, pulled us around a bit and said come back in a week, which we do until the pain of forking out £££ outweighs the pain in the back.

That's shit about the arthritis, you're a mere whippersnaper.

*snapper

Arthritis is quite a catchall term. Arthro = relating to joints and itis = swollen. Assuming it's osteoarthritis? Diagnosis may be given if you're the right kind of age and nothing else obvious is going on (eg bulging discs or nasty shit). I wouldn't blame the physio - their role is to address symptoms not diagnose disease.

I am an Osteopath and hope I can reassure you a bit op. Please don't be gutted about your diagnosis it may not be as bad as it sounds. All of our spines start showing signs of degeneration as early as our teenage years and this degeneration will gradually advance with age. Admittedly this process can be accelerated / decellerated by certain factors. Symptoms of arthritis can be very general such as reoccurring low back pain and therefore lots of people get lumped with it. It may well be the cause of your discomfort but this is not a given. It has been demonstrated that degenerative changes of the spine as seen on Xray have little correlation with an individuals experience of pain/symptoms except in the case of severe advanced changes. It is therefore really important to a certain whether a degenerative change is the true cause of your symptoms rather than just being present. It is hard for me to comment more without further information but your physio was not necessarily wrong to suggest you may have degenerative changes if they did a thorough examination. They could have suggested you get an xray for proof of the level of advancement of these changes but this is not routinely advised especially if the believed outcome of the results doesn't alter treatment approaches greatly. To me the greatest issue here is that your physio hasn't given you enough information or discussed diagnosis and treatment options with you. You shouldn't feel unsure about it all especially having parted with your money. I feel one of the most important aspects of health care is helping the patient understand their body, what's going on and also how they can take control to help themselves. If you have any more questions on specifics I'm happy to help if I can
Also this post is assuming physio has diagnosed osteoarthritis (wear&tear) as opposed to rheumatoid which is a different ball game completely.

Thanks SO much everyone. It's wear and tear. Yes. He are said well the X-ray shows (vague!) not much space between (some part of my lower spine) then something about cartilage in there. I must ring up and get them to explain it properly. I was so surprised. I'm 44 go to the gym 3 times a week. Weight all fine.

Oh and dabchick thank you. The physio was in the summer. She said nothing. Just took mh money it seems.

I got off my arse to get the X-ray last month then the Dr diagnosed. Vaguely.

I'm a physio. I'd be sending you back to your GP to explain the X-ray properly. Ask the GP to refer you onto an NHS physio - might be a wait for it depending on area but it's free.

Massage and TENS do help some people with lower back pain so the physio may not have been trying to rip you off. You would also not be a typical case of OA in the spine based on what you've said about your lifestyle on here.

Ta Spartak. Yup appointment within 3 weeks of diagnosis! NHS that is

I've just been reading that spinning is good for it. That's good as that is what I love. Dr was keen to stress I should keep moving. how she thought Id stop I dunno.
Her ideas were physio and pain management. I'm not in pain- just bending is uncomfy.

I'm toying with phoning physio once im in possession of all the facts if there's a complaint to be made.
(Ooh just remembered she put me on a stretching Machine)

Spinning should be ok as it's non weight bearing. Avoid running though especially on hard surfaces. The worst thing people can do for back pain is keep still, they then stiffen up which makes it worse.

The stretching machine sounds hideous! Did she do any poking around with your back? Pressing the bony bits?

Kind of. And a "Ooh that's not right". Yes have jacked in body pump