Your stories – Osteoarthritis

Head of the Department of Physiotherapy at Auckland University of Technology Peter Larmer knows what it is like to live with osteoarthritis.

"Modifying my exercise, managing my pain and keeping positive allows me to rule my arthritis and ensure it doesn't rule me."

“The first ‘announcing’ of my arthritis occurred 400 metres from my home as I was finishing a 35km training run. My radiologist suggested an x-ray, which showed that I had significant degeneration in both hips.”

“I thought this is an old person problem and I only have pain in one hip.  I could see the degeneration on the x-ray and I did have some of the classical signs of an arthritic hip (stiffness and pain), but I thought I was young and bullet proof.”

“I knew it was not going to get any better and that it could not be cured.  I realised that running marathons was unlikely to be helpful in the long term. I also knew that physical activity had been a major part of my life. I had undertaken some form of vigorous activity for at least six days a week for the past 25 years. It was essential to ‘me’ that I would not stop doing this. My professional knowledge also provided me with the understanding of the importance of exercise.

So I increased my swimming exercise and took to bike riding as an alternative to running. I also took up yoga.

Living with osteoarthritis is a bit like being on a roller coaster, I have good times and not so good times. When it is good, I get on with my life with gusto and when it is bad, I’m not the nicest person to be around.

By modifying my mode of exercise, managing my pain and keeping positive I was able to ensure that I ruled my arthritis and that it did not rule me.