Pain in fingers and hands

[OldKarz]

My fibro pain is more tendon/muscle compared to joint for arthritis. I think it makes the arthritic joints act up some so one could think that would be fibro but is just a side effect for me.
I have had arthritis, mainly in first joint from finger tips, that had them kinked off to the side 30 years ago. At that time it was quite painful and I had to have my young son not hold my hand due to pain. I said to heck with that and started to figure out how to eliminate the arthritic degredation and get my hands back to being usable. I do have some left over lumps and minor stiffness at times now but my fingers are back to being straight and have stopped deteriorating.

 

[Auriel]

How did you do it, @OldKarz?

 

[sunkacola]

My fibro pain is more tendon/muscle compared to joint for arthritis. I think it makes the arthritic joints act up some so one could think that would be fibro but is just a side effect for me.
I have had arthritis, mainly in first joint from finger tips, that had them kinked off to the side 30 years ago. At that time it was quite painful and I had to have my young son not hold my hand due to pain. I said to heck with that and started to figure out how to eliminate the arthritic degredation and get my hands back to being usable. I do have some left over lumps and minor stiffness at times now but my fingers are back to being straight and have stopped deteriorating.

Tell us how you succeeded in eliminating some of that degradation.

 

[OldKarz]

Tell us how you succeeded in eliminating some of that degradation.

As always - this works for me, and my wife also has success with it, but may not work for others. Try at your own peril if you try too much at once.
Grab onto the affected finger just below the joint you want to work on, finger tip for first joint etc. Move the finger, below the joint, so that the tip makes a circular motion. Note where it will go without any force beyond what makes it move comfortably. You should feel resistance where the 'bumps' are expanding on the joint. The idea is to increase the motion with slightly increased pressure, especially in the bump areas, over an extended period of time. You will feel the buildup rubbing together where extra material has deposited. I started doing it 3 or 4 times a day for each affected joint. It was a long time ago when I started doing this however I think it increased the pain a little for a short time and then got better quite quickly and let my fingers straighten. Now I only do it to joints as needed, if they do not feel as free as I think they should. It is only usually one of the 'bumpy' joints at a time that I need to do every 3 or so months.
It appears that over time the extra wears away, and in my case, lets the fingers straighten as well as eliminating most pain.
Hope you can follow the descriptions - not easy to explain.
Take care every body.

 

[Auriel]

@OldKarz, where did you learn this? are there any instructional videos on youtube how to do it? (I struggle to understand/take in information sometimes) what do i put it down as in a search engine? We're allowed to type the name of videos and search sentences, but links aren't allowed (but I'd like to know how to do this)

 

[OldKarz]

Sorry. It is something I developed by myself. Just put my mechanical engineering knowledge to work. I am sure every doctor going will hate this method!

 

[Auriel]

Sell it, you could make millions!

 

[RoboticSwan13]

Hello, I'm also new here. @chance1252 I can empathize. Pain in my fingers and hands, accompanied by follow-on stiffness and weakness, has been my primary symptom over the past nine years. I'm fine in mornings though, it's almost entirely use-based for me, so if I don't use my hands at all they won't be painful. If I hold a book, type for a few minutes, prepare food, shower, etc they will become painful. If I use my hands a fair amount (e.g. very light typing for a few hours), my hands may not be painful right away but guaranteed the next 48 hours will be excruciating. This relative time lag can make it very difficult to tell when I have done too much. In good months, I can do a lot of strengthening exercises which might increase the "finger use budget" a little bit, but there is always a cliff I fall off of after a certain amount of use.

For me, pain often gives way to stiffness, and I've found that doing nothing at all is the best medicine. When my hands are sore, my grip strength is drastically reduced as is the flexibility of my fingers: I can't even come close to making a fist. I found it interesting that @OldKarz mentioned tendons, as I've sometimes wondered if my tendons are becoming inflamed. I've tested positive for rheumatoid arthritis and have presumed fibromyalgia as well (due to many other symptoms). I am not certain which one is the primary culprit for my hands. My most effective medication is Lyrica, which prevents central sensitization death spirals, but I'm not sure it does too much for this finger pain. FYI, @chance1252 since your hands are worse in morning, it does sound like it could be rheumatoid arthritis.

I have found that wearing lightweight compression gloves (ideally preemptively, before pain) is the only thing that helps the pain, but it works amazingly well. I go from not being able to touch a computer to being able to do lightweight web browsing. I use Isotoner fingerless therapeutic gloves. P.S. I am also a very heavy user of voice recognition, with which I am writing this post.

I do have a question, does anyone else experience their hands being mostly fine until they are used, and then a slight delay for the pain to catch up? Does anyone else with both rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia have any insight on my particular situation?

 

[sunkacola]

Sorry. It is something I developed by myself. Just put my mechanical engineering knowledge to work. I am sure every doctor going will hate this method!

Not at all. In fact, my chiropractor has done very similar things for me when I have had those same problems with my fingers or thumbs. It is a known technique. Doesn't work for everyone, as you mentioned, and may cause too much pain to be usable for some, but it can help. Simply pulling out on the affected finger and giving it a tiny bit of a shake can also help.

 

[OldKarz]

Not at all. In fact, my chiropractor has done very similar things for me when I have had those same problems with my fingers or thumbs. It is a known technique. Doesn't work for everyone, as you mentioned, and may cause too much pain to be usable for some, but it can help. Simply pulling out on the affected finger and giving it a tiny bit of a shake can also help.

It is always nice to hear that a 'fix' I have developed to work for me is actually 'a thing'. I think for long term relief it should be done a few times a day. That is what eventually straightened my fingers.

 

[sunkacola]

It is always nice to hear that a 'fix' I have developed to work for me is actually 'a thing'. I think for long term relief it should be done a few times a day. That is what eventually straightened my fingers.

My chiropractor suggested that I do it about three times a day; can do more, best not to do less than twice, and not to overdo it.