Q:  I am a 20 years old male having heavy pain in the left hip joint for the last four months. Now I am unable to walk. I have been diagnosed with arthritis. My orthopaedic surgeon referred me to a rheumatologist, who gave me certain medicines. But they haven’t been effective. How can I get rid of the pain in my hip joint?

A:Your symptom appears highly suspicious of a disease called spondyloarthritis. It is a serious systemic disease that needs to be carefully evaluated immediately. I am not sure who has evaluated your case but, obviously the rheumatologist you have seen should have been able to evaluate the possibility of spondyloarthritis and if confirmed, appropriate treatment should have been started.

You may directly ask the rheumatologist whether he/she has considered the possibility of spondyloarthritis. Then, the treatment can be started accordingly.

One important point is that if your disease is already far advanced and if the joint has been damaged then, the only option would be to get surgery done for that joint. But, remember, proper treatment of spondyloarthritis would still be necessary so that other joints also do not get damaged.