Hi, I'm also very stiff in the morning. I also get pain that radiates out from my spine a bit when I wake up in the fetal position on my side. When I breathe in, I usually feel some pain in my lurabar spine and it radiates out a little to the sides. I've also had this happen on occasion in my thoracic spine area. But once I get up and move around I dont' get this particular pain anymore. I do still get other pain but not this particular one. And it's always in the same spots. I do get some pain in my lurabar area that's simliar when I try to bend sideways, so maybe the side sleepign aggravates it, I don't know.
But for many arthritic conditions, it is common to have stiffness after a period of resting. Once I start moving around, then I get more pain in my hip/pelvic area and upper legs. Today, though, for some reason, I am also having some more localized low back spasms, but they happen more so while standing/walking. I'm fairly okay while sitting, unless I sit for too long.
Do you find yourself having to walk with your legs kind of far apart when you get up with that stiffness? I do. I don't really know the cause of my issue, though. I had lurabar stenosis (had surgery for it in 06), I have spondylosis and DDD, plus scar tissue build up. I saw in my med recorRAB from my rheum that he thinks i also have cervical spondylosis, lupus, and fibromyalgia, and troncherica bursitis. I've had both hips MRI'd already b/c a few months after surgery I told my surgeon I was having deep achy pain in my hips. The MRI only showed mild arthritis in my right hip plus a possible spur. The hip specialist thought my problem was related to my spine, though. Since then, tough, that deep pain I get in hips (which technicallly might not really be my hips...now I say my pelvis area) has gradually worsened and I have a hard time walking for too far.