I have been hurting for 10 months and there is no end in sight.

I am about to turn 70, and just in the past few months some pretty intense pain in left hip has become chronic, and has been joined by painful gluteal muscles and pain radiating to knees. X-ray shows arthritis in both hips, but the pain originates in the left. Am wondering if what I have been reading about an overproduction of cortisol could be part of problem. Or is it uric acid? Am consulting again with my PCP next week. Physical Therapy was helping a little, but not lasting help, and I had to stop because of work. I am hoping to find something that can stop the constant debilitating pain that now occurs day and night. What have people done to address this problem?

Mine started with osteoarthritis in my toe! From there I found out that my lower leg aches (around the ILT) is due to weak feet, tight calves and that my lumbar region (have spinal degeneration), L5 is most likely responsible for it all. I went to osteopathic PT for two months. Now, I have stretches to get my back into proper position and am working on strengthening my core. If I sit too long, I have to do the adjustment at this point. Still working on getting the toe flexible, picking up my feet as I walk (which I wasn't, so they got weak).

Piriformis syndrome is a thing with hips. The Piriformis is the long muscle that goes from the glutes down to the knees. I like the stretches by Dr Jo online, but it is better to get to PT for other weakened areas. I've had to periodically go to PT over the years and I really like the Osteopathic PTs best--they give me a program of stretches for the causal areas as well as the current problematic one. I've read lately that estrogen loss is causal for hip issues, but not convinced. The Piriformis stretches can be done when there is misery, but if you have lumbar issues, then there are others. I keep the print outs and, in older age, I have to keep doing them. Six weeks of PT just increases my strength to the point where I can actually do them.

Thankyou for the insights. I will get back into PT when I am not longer working 12 and 14 hour days.

Well there you go you are working too much. At your age you can’t work for 12 to 14 hours and expect not to have the pain you’re having. You can’t wait till you’re done working and then expect to get back into PT because what’s deteriorating in the process you won’t be able to rebuild easily. You have to pay attention to your core Spine now otherwise you will pay the price later. I know.

Yes, exactly. We deteriorate our spine as we age and if we don’t have an exercise regime in place, we’re going to have aches and pains because of the degeneration and have a horrible quality of life going forward. People here should read all the complaints and they will see that there’s common elements to why the pain is happening and how to fix it. It’s not magic. We are aging and our body doesn’t support the work. We wanna do without putting an exercise regime in place or taking medicine we’re having injections or having surgery.

OA in and of itself doesn’t cause pain. Either you are putting stress on the joint from improper posture or usage or you’re having an inflammatory reaction which needs to be attended to. In my case it’s always both. If Iare putting stress on the joint from improper posture or usage or you’re having an inflammatory reaction which needs to be attended to. In my case it’s always both. If I get a pain in my knee from riding my stationary bike, I have to correct it by using better posture for example applying more pressure to my feet instead of at my knees, that will correct my pain right away. On the other hand, I also have inflammatory pain and I have corrected that by using either ZAZZEE pills or going on the allopurinol medicine, which is for gout. Gout is under identified as physicians only look for OA or RA and neglect to identify gout.

And, it is important to try PT before surgery.

Absolutely! I can tell you from my many joint replacements. It is super important to build yourself up as much as possible before you have the surgery. Cause there’s usually a downtime after surgery where your muscles weekend. I agree entirely.