Hands & feet.

[Lozza812]

Can anyone suggest anything to help support my hands and feet?

I have pain and stiffness across the backs of my hands and I have very little grip strength. Pain is particularly bad through my little fingers. I have been wearing standard arthritis compression gloves with little relief.

I have pain across the tops of my feet and it feels like the small bones sub-lux, causing my real problems and pain when walking. I always wear supportive shoes, but it seems to make little difference.

Anything you can suggest, aids wise, would really help.

[cyberbarn]

I have had trouble with my hands and feet for a number of years now. The GPs dismissed it as 'just a little osteoarthritis'. However, like you arthritis compression gloves didn't work, in fact they made the pain worse.

The thing with EDS is that the EDS doesn't stop us from getting other conditions on top of it. One of those is osteoarthritis, and that can start earlier for those with EDS. But people may also be prone to other conditions including the many different arthritises.

I have finally after several years of pushing for a diagnosis have been told by my rheumatologist that I probably have psoriatic arthritis. Like other arthropathies there is no cure as such, only treatment for the symptoms of pain.

However, if you haven't already seen a podiatrist for your feet I recommend that you do so. They are the experts in all below the knees and they may be able to help you with more bespoke insoles. And for the hands, there shouldn't be hand specialists, sometimes they are physios with extra training and sometimes they are OTs and they should be able to help with the hands.

In some areas you can self-refer to these services without going through the GP surgery so it is worth checking locally to find out the referral pathway for your area.

[Lozza812 in reply to cyberbarn]

Thanks for your reply, I already have osteoarthritis in multiple joints, in fact it was this that gave many clues to eds. 1 knee already replaced and 2nd, one with a hip, well on the way.But my hands and feet don't feel like arthritis, which I have in my thumbs, more like a deep ache and sub- lux rather than anything else

[SereneDC]

I have had increasing pain and trouble with my hands and feet in recent years. I’ve not gotten any help from doctors (though I haven’t pushed the issue because there have been other more pressing concerns). However, with my physical therapist I have found a way of taping my mid foot that has helped tremendously. We found that in addition to the spreading of the bones and flattening of my feet as I stand/walk, my cuboid bones were chronically dislocated. PT was able to relocate and show me how to do it. Then I put 2 pieces of McConnell Tape around the mid foot - not too tightly, just enough to keep everything in neutral position when I’m weight bearing (also called Leukotape; a layer of Cover Wrap goes on foot first as it’s gentler on skin than the McConnell). I cannot adequately express how much this has helped with the pain in my feet! I haven’t figured out what to do about hands though.