degenerative arthritis in lower lumbar

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Aticineto - 15 Sep 2007 15:38 GMT

Greetings all,

My name is Al, and I am new to this group. I am 43 years old, and my
my best friend, who is 79, just found out (from an MRI) that he has
degenerative arthritis (osteoarthritis) of the lower lumbar region.
He is taking the results to a specialist next Friday, and in the
meantime, I am doing a bit of research for him.

The internet has a lot of information about osteoarthritis, and after
searching webpages for the past few hours I started to hit overload.
I did a group search, and it brought me here.

Does anyone here have oesteoarthritis in the lower lumbar region?
What kid of treatments seem to be most effective? My friend is in a
lot of pain right now, but was very active (and strong as a horse)
most of his life, what are the chances of him resuming an active
life? Are there any treatments, books, exercises, etc, that would be
most helpful?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Al

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california_chief - 15 Sep 2007 17:47 GMT

> Does anyone here have oesteoarthritis in the lower lumbar region?
> What kid of treatments seem to be most effective? My friend is in a
> lot of pain right now, but was very active (and strong as a horse)
> most of his life, what are the chances of him resuming an active
> life? Are there any treatments, books, exercises, etc, that would be
> most helpful?

A doctor, preferably a rheumatologist who specializes in arthritis, can
refer your friend to physical therapy. There, a program of exercises that
help maintain activity and range of motion will be developed. He probably
won't be able to resume ALL activities and should be advised to avoid HIGH
IMPACT activities. Long walks, swimming, bike riding and other LOW IMPACT
activites will help him considerably. Nothing is going to restore him to
his past physical structure - the damage is done and cannot be reversed. In
spite of the medicine men spamming the health and support groups with their
"miracle cures" and "discovered herbs," there is no cure for arthritis.

The friend should also be on DMARDs -- disease modifying anti-rheumatic
drugs -- to slow down the inevitable progress of the disease.
NSAIDs -- nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs -- can reduce the
inflammation and pain.

... Epitaph: SCARLETT O'HARA -- Fiddle De Dead

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spodosaurus - 16 Sep 2007 06:09 GMT

>> Does anyone here have oesteoarthritis in the lower lumbar region?
>> What kid of treatments seem to be most effective? My friend is in a
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
> The friend should also be on DMARDs -- disease modifying anti-rheumatic
> drugs -- to slow down the inevitable progress of the disease.

No he shouldn't - this is osteoarthritis, not RA or other autoimmune
arthritis.

> NSAIDs -- nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs -- can reduce the
> inflammation and pain.
>
> ... Epitaph: SCARLETT O'HARA -- Fiddle De Dead

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