What to Do for Hand Arthritis
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Arthritis can affect anyone in any joint in the body. Most commonly, arthritis affects joints that create movements such as the hips, knees, shoulder, spine, and hands. Hand arthritis can be difficult because of how much we use our hands for every activity throughout the day.
Thankfully, there are ways that we can manage our hand arthritis and things we can do to limit stress on our joints, especially in the hands.
To read other hand arthritis articles by JOI Rehab, please read this article about the Top 4 Exercises for Arthritis.
Hand Arthritis
Types of Arthritis in the Hands
Arthritis is the inflammation of the joints that can be more of an autoimmune response such as Rheumatoid arthritis or more of the “wear and tear” type of arthritis, osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is the more common arthritis that affects people. Unfortunately, there are not always great treatments when it comes to the hand because of the intricacies and complexity of the hand. Most often, the treatment is anti-inflammatories and compensatory actions to avoid further stress and gentle motion. Occasionally, depending on the joint, there are surgeries to replace the small joints or lock a joint from moving to help with pain reduction.
Arthritis, whether from an autoimmune type or osteoarthritis, can have flares when it is more irritating and can be more painful for short periods. Things that can cause flares are:
- increased use of the hands
- inflammatory type foods
- gout
- injuries
Things that can help calm arthritis from day-to-day irritation or during a flare can be:
- heat
- anti-inflammatories
- changes in diet to eliminate irritating foods
- gentle motion.
Hands with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis
Splinting for Hand Arthritis
Depending on the joint, sometimes splinting can be helpful to limit activity at the joint to allow the joints to rest.
Foods that Help with Arthritis
Further going into the effects of different foods, it has been found that some of the foods that we consume can be inflammatory to our bodies, and some can be more anti-inflammatory.
Inflammatory foods are things like:
- Sugar
- High fructose corn syrup
- Alcohol
- Refined foods
- Carbohydrates
- Processed foods meats
It has been found for some that avoiding or significantly decreasing the above food in one’s diet can cause decreased joint pain in some individuals. There are better foods to consume that have also been found to help with decreasing inflammation such as:
- berries
- fish
- avocados
- broccoli
- green tea
- turmeric
- dark chocolate
- tomatoes
- extra virgin olive oil.
To read more about how the foods you eat can affect inflammation in your body, please read this article about Turmeric for Inflammation.
Tools to Help with Hand Arthritis
To decrease stress on the joints of the hand, there are many tools out there for writing, food preparation, dressing, and things to participate in daily activities such as teeth brushing that can be helpful. Changing out a tool to increase the grip or change the grip to decrease stress on the joints can be beneficial to increase participation in daily activities while also reducing discomfort.
Related Article: Tennis Elbow FAQ
If you have hand arthritis and need to see a JOI Hand Doctor, please call 904-JOI-2000, schedule online, or click the button below. To schedule an appointment for hand therapy at one of our 12 JOI Rehab Centers, please call 904-858-7045.
By:Jennifer M. Neuenfeldt MOTR/L