We have now had the opportunity to interview three experts on OA in the joints of the hand. Through this, we have received help in answering some of the questions we commonly receive in our contact mail and on our social channels. We have also gained a lot of valuable information and facts about OA in the wrist, the base of the thumb, and the finger joints.
At Skåne University Hospital, Hand Surgery Rehab in Malmö, Freya Kristjansdottir, reg. Occupational Therapist and MSc, Sara Larsson, reg. Physiotherapist, PhD and specialist physiotherapist in orthopedics, and Katarina Mortazavi, also a reg. Physiotherapist, MSc and specialist physiotherapist in orthopedics works.
It is possible to get OA in all the joints of the hand, but most common are the thumb’s CMC joint, the interphalangeal joints (PIP joints - Bouchard’s arthritis, DIP joints - Heberden’s arthritis), and the STT joint (scaphoid, trapezium, trapezoid). OA can also occur in the wrist (radiocarpal joint or distal radioulnar joint).
The cause of wrist arthritis is often post-traumatic and after a fracture or ligament injury involving the scaphoid. The most common risk factors for CMC and IP joint arthritis are female gender, heredity, and overweight. Arthritis in the CMC and IP joints is more common in women, unlike wrist arthritis, which is more common in men.
If you have OA in the joints of the hand due to heredity and/or after a previous joint injury, you can try to prevent your OA from developing further and becoming more difficult by exercising the muscles around the joints, using an orthosis (support splint) during loading, and using relieving aids. Thus, strengthen, protect, and relieve the joint. Since there is a link between overweight (body fat percentage) and hand OA, it is also possible to affect hand OA through weight loss and general exercise.
The Arthritis Portal often receive questions regarding aids that can work for OA, and we have received some tips:
Freya, Katarina, and Sara tell us that there are some general principles that are good to keep in mind when it comes to reduced hand function/arthritis. The first is an enlarged grip, e.g., on pens, cutlery, or the toothbrush. Gripping around a larger area means that you do not need to use as much force as with a thin/narrow grip. There are pens, cutlery, etc., to buy that have thicker shafts, but it is also possible to do it yourself, we learn. With the help of, for example, foam rubber tubing used for pipe insulation, you can make your pen or toothbrush more grip-friendly.
Another good function is spring-loaded handles, on scissors, this means that you can use the force in the full-hand grip instead of straining the thumb. There is also a good picking tongs with a spring-loaded shaft that compensates for the pincer grip.
Anti-slip material on the tools or tools you use means that you can focus the force on what is to be done instead of having to prevent the tool from sliding around. If the tool you are going to use does not have an anti-slip surface, it is possible to, for example, put on a glove that creates friction. Dishwashing gloves or work/strength training gloves often have suede or another grip-friendly surface.
The last principle we were given was an angled shaft, e.g., on a knife or cheese slicer, this means that you can work with a straight wrist. Other kitchen utensils such as a spatula and whisk are also available with angled shafts.
One of the aids that we learn is appreciated by many patients with thumb base OA is the picking tongs described above. Using the pincer grip is often painful with thumb base arthritis, and getting hold of, for example, the metal tab on the toothpaste, the plastic strip on the medicine bottle, or pulling up the zipper on the shoes can be both difficult and painful. Trying a picking tongs can thus be a good tip if you haven’t already done so.
