Question
I have Crohns disease and celiac sprue (cannot have any glutten in my diet.) My hips and legs have become much stiffer and hard to use lately . Are there any correlations under these conditions?
Answer
I cannot speak directly to your problem without examining you. There is an arthritis associated with Crohn’s Disease and ulcerative colitis (inflammatory bowel disease). Its also called enteropathic arthritis and is one of the seronegative spondyloarthropathies. The arthritis has two forms. It can involve the lower back and sacroiliac joints and cause pain and morning stiffness lasting over an hour. It can also affect the peripheral joints– knees, ankles, hips, hands– with swelling and pain particularly when the Crohn’s Disease is very active. Of course there are other causes of hip and knee pain. You might also have muscle weakness from poor conditioning and lack of nutrition because of the bowel problems. Its tough to call from here.
