Arthritis

It is all too easy to assume that the pain is due to your age and is therefore arthritis. We do it to ourselves, to our neighbours and friends and sadly the medical profession does this to us too. Arthritis means that the surface of the joint is worn but most joints degenerate throughout our lives and even seeing a worn joint on x ray does not necessarily mean that this is the reason for the pain. It may be that there is a soft tissue problem nearby which wouldn’t show up on the x- ray because they only show the bones. So it is always worth seeing a physiotherapist to be assessed to see if there is a soft tissue problem and if so get it dealt with appropriately. Physiotherapy can help people with arthritis (whether this be osteo, rheumatoid or other forms of the disease) but if the joint is severely damaged you may be better off with a joint replacement. Physiotherapist Kath Hamflett at Barnt Green Physiotherapy has many years experience working with these sorts of problems and she can help diagnose the reason for your pain and the best course of action needed to help deal with it. If physiotherapy treatment isn't indicated she can refer you on to a specialist or an MRI scan(but this would have to be self-funded).