Arthistis in Hands

[delmuts]

For us older folks that are paying the price for working with our hands for many years, I've found some relief! Was told by my Phys. therapist about a treatment for arthritic hands. I'm on my second week ( twice a week) of treatment, and have noticed good results! They very seldom ache at night, I can grab and hold on to things better, and feel I have more strength in them.

 I can only describe the treatment as a scraping of the muscles, tendons and joints with hard plastic tools after coating your hands and fore arms with coco butter . Check with an occupational therapist .

[jmd1]

So i have Dupuytren’s Contracture on my left palm, small finger, ring finger and starting toward middle and index finger.  It gets so painful i cannot hold much with it, even trying to rub lotion on it will bring a tear if not careful.  they do have a new procedure where they do a similar scrapping of the tensions to get the tumor out of the hand.  then inject an enzyme of some type in it to disolve the remaining issues.  sounds like it works great, just have not had the time to get it checked out.  

[delcecchi]

That is interesting.  I just read the Mayo writeup and they noted pain was not typical for this.  

I hope it is confined to your hands.....

It sounds like it can be treated... They do some thing with a needle to break up the cords that have formed.  Or they can do enzymes too.  Here is what they say

Treatment involves removing or breaking apart the cords that are pulling your fingers in toward your palm. This can be done in several different ways. The choice of procedure depends on the severity of your symptoms and any other health problems you may have.

Needling

This technique uses a needle, inserted through your skin, to puncture and "break" the cord of tissue that's contracting a finger. Contractures often recur but the procedure can be repeated. The main advantages of the needling technique are that there is no incision, it can be done on several fingers at the same time, and usually very little physical therapy is needed afterward. The main disadvantage is that it cannot be used in some locations in the finger, because it could damage a nerve or tendon.

Enzyme injections

Injecting a type of enzyme into the taut cord in your palm can soften and weaken it — allowing your doctor to later manipulate your hand in an attempt to break the cord and straighten your fingers. The advantages and disadvantages of the enzyme injection are similar to needling, except that the enzyme injection may be more painful initially. 

There are other treatments but they sound a lot more extreme... 

[jmd1]

I am going to see hand doc in July so i will let you know what transpires.  The guy i am seeing is the doc for the AZ Diamondbacks and the Phoenix Suns (both of which can need all the help).  He is one of the only ones here in the valley that will do the enzyme treatment.  The whole needle thing scares me as they do rip the hand pretty good.  I have been a mechanic all my life and now work in the AG industry so my hands take a beating everyday.  I know i have arthritis in both of them and have broken most of the fingers on both hands throughout the years.  

I hope you can get some relief, i love the early part of summer here when the humidity is low, but now it is raining so they are pretty sore.  

One thing i found that helps the most is the use of mechanix wear gloves when i am driving.  I usually just wear one on my left hand as it is the worse of the two.  You might consider this too.  

[DrJuice1980]

The problem is probably in your forearms/wrist flexors.  Those muscles may be able to concentrically contract but not lengthen, thus driving force into your hand to be absorbed, which created heat and inflammation which is in the form of arthritis.  Get those wrist flexors to lengthen, giving more support and allowing more blood to flow to affected area to heel.  Essentially that is the main response that is occurring to get you to feel better, blood flow.  Most likely whatever relief you get just focusing on the hand will dissipate because your only focusing on the end result and not whats causing it.