The most common problem in the world!
You won’t find this in any medical book or website, this is the name I give to problems that have no cause other than living!
People present with pain and stiffness, pain is usually worse at night and these people are very stiff in the morning. This is inflammatory pain and is very common. It can affect many areas at the same time, or just be nagging away in one muscle or joint.
Patients have a common history. Many have a job that is busy and repetitive. People complain of a mild soreness that goes away and comes back. The soreness may spread to other areas or just increase to become chronic in one area. The neck and lower back are the most common. The most common complaint is “I have not done anything”! Yes, you have every day of your life that has contributed to this.
The first point of help is often the Doctor. If you are over 60 you will most likely be told you have arthritis, even without an assessment. Your only symptom is the pain, your range of movement will be fine (or appear fine). Your Dr. will most likely just treat the pain prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs and say come back if it continues. The next round of money will go on x-rays, a CT scan, US scan, and or an MRI, in some cases this will reveal a problem but in so many, it just shows minor joint changes that are normal. Some Drs. go further and prescribe a cortisone injection into the inflamed area. I am not a fan of this being the first choice of treatment.
So what is wrong with you? You have Stiffitis!
So What Causes Stiffitis?
This is my diagnosis after a full assessment of the cause! Sadly some patients do have major problems. A heavy fall in the past often comes back to haunt you, but still may well be due to poor postures that are repetitive.
Your repetitive lifestyle over the years shortens your muscles, which causes the joints to become stiff and inflexible, the joint may have some swelling as a result. The swelling and loss of movement may impinge the nerve giving you nerve pain.
The nerve pain may be the final pain that causes you to seek help. A massage therapist will treat the site of pain and not follow it back to the cause of pain, they are not trained in clinical assessment. A Physiotherapist will treat the cause of the pain, at the joint level in many cases.
” Stiffitis” is the most common problem I treat.
It occurs in young athletes as well as old athletes. It may come on months after an injury, due to poor rehabilitation. It occurs in every person who has a repetitive job.
Sadly it tends to send patients crazy with pain and worry about something being serious. It results in a lot of money being spent on unnecessary investigations. Some people suffer for years because nobody bothered to do a full assessment. Even worse, is Horse Riders tend to inflict their own problems onto their horse. Strangely enough, these people spend a lot of money on treating their horses for pain and stiffness, never looking at the cause, the rider!
Computer Stiffitis, sore neck, headache, arm pain, elbow pain.
Driving Stiffitis, all of the above as well as lower back pain.
Running Stiffitis, knee pain, hip pain, foot pain, and the rest!
Horse Riding Stiffitis, well this can be every pain in your body but the most common is lower back pain.
So if you have pain that is nagging away and is now giving you night pain and you have no reason you can find then you may well be suffering “Stiffitis”.
I suggest you see a good Physiotherapist and change your habits.
“It is not what you do It is how you do what you do”.
I love this topic, contact me if you have suffered “Stiffitis” it is easy to fix and man
