thumb osteoarthritis

[kevingills23]

I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis of the thumb joints in both hands nearly two years ago ,I am a joiner which caused constant use of my hands wrists and thumbs .As the problem increased I came to a point were the only way to work was with up to three splints ,of varying sizes fastened on top of each other to reduce the movements in my joints .The problem got so bad that I ended up wearing the splints 24hours a day only removing them to shower ,I needed them to drive ,eat ,and dress myself ,I was in severe pain without them .

I had several steroid injections in both hands under xray conditions ,and strong medication to ease the progression all to no avail .

It was decided ,between myself and my Orthopaedic consultant that thumb fusion surgery would be a possibility ,so on the 18th of December 2015 I had surgery on my left(dominant) hand .I was 4hours in surgery due to the problem being worse than first thought and ended up having a partial wrist fusion with bone grafts and a metal plate fitted in the back of my wrist .

I was in hospital for two days then in bandages for three weeks and in cast for a further four weeks I have started having physio and set excercises and can now ,use my left hand Strap free ,I have been left with limited movement in the wrist but although still healing 90 % of my pain has gone which with time should improve more.

[popsmith1874]

That's where my arthritis started 2 years ago and by the end off that month I couldn't even get out off bed , now 2 years on I've had to give up my job , walk with a stick and can't do what I used to do but hey there's a lot off

[popsmith1874 in reply to popsmith1874]

Sorry hands bad today what I was saying was there's people worse off than me, rant over

[kevingills23 in reply to popsmith1874]

Sorry to hear that, guess I am one of the lucky ones

[rosewine]

You have my complete sympathy as I too have arthritis in hands as well as other places caused by osteo and it can such a painful condition as well as making simple things in every day life awkward to do.

Hope you keep on getting improvement. X

[kevingills23]

Thank you for your kind response ,i think unless you have these conditions it is hard to realise the problems they can cause in normal day to day life ,I know that my relief may be short lived but at least I am better off than many,many more and in response my sympathies go to you as well we are all in the same boat one way or another .X

[5454trevj]

I was a carpenter as well, same as you ,I got the same symptoms as you,I hope not as bad though, Thanks for your input, Trevor.