Early sign of arthritis that’s a pain in the backside – The Irish News
Back pain that radiates into the hips is usually caused by sciatica but can also be a form of inflammatory arthritis
AS a hotel chef often on his feet for 10 hours a day, and a keen rugby player, Gareth Dwyer put the constant ache in his buttocks down to his wo…….
Back pain that radiates into the hips is usually caused by sciatica but can also be a form of inflammatory arthritis
AS a hotel chef often on his feet for 10 hours a day, and a keen rugby player, Gareth Dwyer put the constant ache in his buttocks down to his work and lifestyle.
“I played rugby as a prop – pushing against the full weight of the opposing team’s scrum – so I thought the pain was just wear and tear from being very active,” says 42-year-old Gareth.
“When I was walking, though, I was hunching over like a turtle and the pain could radiate into my hips – the only way I’d get any relief was to put my hands behind my back and press my palms together like Prince Charles does, which my wife took the mickey out of me for.”
The backside aches had affected him since his late 20s, and at times were severe enough to wake him in the early hours, but he ploughed on.
It wasn’t until the age of 35, when he fell down some steps and fractured his spine, that Gareth learned his aching buttocks were a sign of a form of inflammatory arthritis.
His X-ray and MRI scans showed that the bones in the joints, which join the lower spine to the pelvis, were fused and inflamed.
Gareth also had a positive blood test for the HLA-B27 gene, which predisposes people to developing inflammatory arthritis. This confirmed that Gareth had axial spondyloarthritis (or axial SpA), a form of arthritis that affects the spine and sacroiliac joints.
An estimated 220,000 people in the UK are thought to have axial SpA. It can run in families, and possible triggers for those with a genetic predisposition include infections, stress and trauma.
The conditions that fall under the umbrella include non-radiographic axial SpA (where these joints become inflamed, but this is not visible on an X-ray).
In some cases this can progress to radiographic axial SpA (also known as ankylosing spondylitis), where inflammation causes extra bone to grow, leading to the fusion of vertebrae in the spine.
As well as affecting the ability to do everyday things, including bending, it can impact breathing if the ribcage is affected and the lungs can’t expand enough. The inflammation also causes pain and fatigue, and walking can be hard.
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