Arthritis and Hand Health

The beautiful phenomenon of aging brings us more wisdom, patience and emotional stability.  It also brings changes in our physical bodies. If not taken care of, muscles may become weaker and joints may start withering. Aging is often referred as a ball rolling down the hill… slowly but surely. Can we pause that ball of aging from rolling down, or slow it down tremendously?

Yes we can! With the right nutrition, exercise and a generous dose of social love, we can pause or slow the aging ball. After all, our health is our most precious wealth!

Pain around the joints, often diagnosed as arthritis or joint degeneration, can have a hereditary component. Sometimes it’s related to lifestyle choices and food habits. Pain in joints of hand and arm is often related to the type of activities one has been doing with their hands for the last few decades. Some people notice pain in the hand joints when gripping while others find it hard to bend the fingers in a fist. A simple X-ray can show the extent of joint degeneration - are the bony ends getting close to each other, are there any bone spurs? Other imaging methods like MRI can show the health of soft tissues around the joint. 

Having treated patients with different types of arthritis for the last 15 years, I have come to realize that all joint pains, in spite of what the X-ray shows, may not solely be due to joint degeneration. The enclosing soft tissues of the capsule, ligaments, muscles and the nerves around the joint, could all very well be causing pain. Labeling all arthritic pains as joint based may not be fair when choosing the right treatment strategy. 

Consulting a specialist to identify what structures are giving you pain is of paramount importance. Your primary care provider may help you with the initial blood work, investigative imaging and pain control with drugs/ointments. Your hand surgeon may offer cortisone shots at the painful sites and reconstructive surgeries as needed. 

As a hand to shoulder specialist, I investigate what structures are responsible for the pain, alleviate the pain by calming those irritated structures with different manual therapy techniques, and helping you choose the right supporting orthosis. When we work together, we’ll discuss how to modify your daily activities to avoid the pain, how to apply the principles of joint protection techniques to your lifestyle and how to strengthen the body part without hurting the joints. The goal is to help you resume your daily activities, with a good understanding of your pain management.

Yes we all are absolutely aging. Let's do it pain free, staying strong and doing the tasks we love to do!