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.
Problems in the kitchen
R Arthritis “footgo” 
Osteoarthritis pain 
