My guess is ankylosing spondylitis or maybe a terrible case of scoliosis.
Could be lupus …
Spinal stenosis of the lumbar spine is another possibility. (Which is only on my mind because I’m going to see a new patient with it today.)
Arthritis, tumors or other age related changes to the spine can cause excess bone growth inside the vertebrae, which squeezes the spinal cord itself. This can cause pain (or not), numbness or weakness or loss of bladder or bowel control, depending on where along the spine it’s happening. If it’s in the lumbar spine, some people feel relief from the pain/numbness/weakness if they lean forward while they walk.
There was an elderly retarded woman in my neighborhood who walked like that. Turned out her parents had raised her in a small cage (:eek:), and she hadn’t had room to stand up straight as she grew taller. She was found when her parents died–nobody in the neighborhood knew she existed.