If you’re over 50, osteoarthritis (a.k.a. degenerative arthritis) may be a topic of conversation among you and your friends. Most of the time, osteoarthritis affects the hand, making day-to-day tasks like opening jars, getting dressed and gripping things with your hands, painful.
Thankfully, there are some solutions for hand arthritis.
Relief can come in the form of:
- Therapy,
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication,
- Bracing, and
- Cortisone injections.
For pain not relieved by these interventions, surgery is an option. Painful joints can be fused. This eliminates motion of the fused joint, but also eliminates the constant aching pain.
Alternatively, some joints can be resurfaced; in fact, I can provide surgery to resurface a painful joint at the base of the thumb on a same-day surgery basis using your own natural joint substitute. Your thumb and wrist are in a cast for four weeks, and gradually regain mobility through therapy.
This type of surgery has a high success rate for decreasing pain and preserving thumb motion. Over time, you actually gain strength in the hands. Tasks that were difficult before become easier and more symptom-free, but treatments like this should be discussed with your doctor, or an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand and wrist surgery. To make an appointment, or learn more, visit FortHealthCare.com/Ortho.
Dr. Bruno
Highly recommended.