Looking after your hands with Osteoarthritis

In this video from the Occupational Therapy Department at TUH, we talk to you about how to look after your hands when you have osteoarthritis. We discuss the signs and symptoms
of osteoarthritis and ways in which you can help yourself to manage these symptoms. This video is intended to be used as part of your OT treatment, and you can discuss any queries you may have with your OT.
We also recommend that your watch our follow-up video, ‘Living with Arthritis: protecting and pacing’ where we talk more about how to care for your hands while carrying out your regular daily activities.

[asarcadyn]

I developed arthritis 6 years ago shortly after retiring at 65. The best thing I have done was a year ago when I went on a low carb diet. Every month since then has seen an reduction in stiffness and now I have very little pain in my hands and fingers. The fewer carbs I eat, the better things become.

[maryriley]

Thank you for the helpful information on osteoarthritis. Very well presented and easy to understand. (I love your accent as well, bless your heart.) Osteoarthritis runs in my father's family but only one of my aunts had it in her hands so bad that they were finally incapacitated. She was a compulsively and consistently hard worker at everything she did (that ran in my father's family as well) and I think a bit of rest and care might have kept it from getting so bad.

[venenareligioest]

The most pain I have excruciating pain I have experienced from osteoarthritis was after going to bed with a splint/support on a deformed knuckle!!! Thank goodness it slowly faded.

[rubylight]

I’m so stressed I’m only 28 and I believe I have this condition because I am a professional oil painter and use my right hand for billions of strokes of painting… I have the rest of my life to go and I hope that I can heal from this and that it won’t affect my painting

[trishalee]

This was a very helpful video as I search for what is happening to my hands. I will show my MD my swollen middle finger that his hard at the top on the part that is hitting all the buttons because my index finger is so arthritic. Hopefully she will offer me more tips, refer me to a specialist, or agree with my notes from your video and another video by Dr. Nabil Ebraheim that I found helpful in my research today to continue self-healing.

[palmtree]

Thank you for the video and knowledge that you convey to the listener. :) Was there any part of the video that tackles the source of the problem rather than symptom? It is not clear to me if there is anything in the video that is used to work on the source of the problem.

[georgiewalker]

I have just found your site. Your video is most helpful. I will most certainly look up the suggested website. Sincere thanks from South Africa

[ArthritisIreland]

A really useful video; thanks Paula and the OT team at TUH.

[DonalKavanagh]

Hi Paula, loved your video. Thanks for information.

[janetang]

Very support and gain confidence Video, Thank you so much 😊 🙏🏼👍🏻💖

[kayoloughlin]

A very useful video. Thanks to Paula & team.Kay

[colocoolaiddurangoco]

i get these hard lumps on both hands on my knuckles mainly and my hands hurt most days 24/7 tingly and numbing washing my hands in cold water does feel good

[racheljolley]

Thank you, very helpful information 🥰

[nathalie-annevanderschyff]

useful video, thank you for all the info, very helpful

[davidakamine]

In my case, I have arthritis in my right index finger. Acupuncture treatments helped with pain and stiffness.

[rudyredcat]

So, in essence, I’m stuck with this? I’m only 42 and I can’t bend my pointer finger. Rheumatoid arthritis has decent meds. This sucks

[ronvera]

Here in Alvin Texas we had an elderly lady( now deceased) that owned a large family vegetable farm and while working on a tractor was attacked by a large swarm of Africanized " killer bees" She was hospitalized as a result of over 100 stings. After her recovery, she claimed her arthritis was cured. ( I don't recall if any of her symptoms returned at a later date".

[slader-hlkk]

You know it's weird but I'm a man I am only 34 and I have osteoarthritis throughout my hands in all my finger/ hand joints they all get swore stiff with swelling in all joints especially in the morning, and it is in all joints in both my hands. Sometimes even my feet I also was diagnosed with sciatica 2 years ago I thought I pulled something but I guess it was just sciatica since that's what they told me so my right leg/thigh is always numb and hurts to scratch along with normal sciatica shooting sharp pain from my head to my feet on the right side, which I believe is probably due to the osteoarthritis throught my hands and spine/ vertebra, and I also have bone spurs in both feet at the heels, so ya work sucks especially since I'm only 35 and I work in a aluminum fab/ weld shop running saws and sometimes welding when hands get bad, so I use my swore hands everyday lol. And i have to be able to use my hands 10hrs a day 6 days a week minimum lol. And I will tell ya it is super annoying and really sucks pushing the buttons on my saw all day with my swore joints in my thumbs lol, usually I splint them so they don't hurt as bad. but ya no one in my family has ever been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, although I have 1 far relative that had recurring bone spurs he had to get removed every few years as he got older around 55. I was also diagnosed with scoliosis as a child and then when I went to the back doctor about 8-10 years ago they said I had stress fractures throughout my spine which I believe now was actually osteoarthritis or caused by it anyway. And is probably what causes my sciatica/ the numbness and tingling throughout my back and right leg so numb it hurts. And I cut my finger like a week ago from a fight with a table saw I guess you could say lol. But it cut through about half my pinky finger starting from the outside tip of my pinky finger by the corner of my nail diagonally inward ending behind my pinky nail bed smack in the center of my finger nail on my left hand, luckily it did not get my nail bed, but I did not feel anything after it got cut just numbness like my leg lol soon everything will be numb, anyways After I got it stiched back together it took 5 stitches and they thought it was weird since I couldn't feel it at all and it got both arteries in my pinky and I believe my nerve hince the numbing and no feeling, even when being stiched, and having laceration cleaned and spread apart and the doc said it was bad but they didn't even give me an x-ray which I thought was weird since my finger was hanging 90° degrees and was bleeding horribly and took multiple docs to stop bleeding after the stiched since I lost so much blood out of my tiny finger lol. But the doc had an intern that needed some practice so he did the stitching and him and the doc were not sure if the stitches would hold my finger together and worried about wether it would fuse back together and heal, but it definally started to heal and fuse back together fast almost healed in 2 weeks, but after 2 weeks and me telling the ER docs and then my regular family doc repeatedly that I still had no feeling only tingling in my finger along with the only thing that hurt was my bone if I pushed on or hid my pinky finger bone that would shoot pain up my arm so i kept telling them I thought it was broke and after 2 weeks he gave me an x-ray revealing a avulsion fracture along the radial aspect of the base of the proximal phalanx. That's what the results say anyway lol. I have to back to see doc tomorrow. But the results also say, Small chronic ossicles are
osteophytes are noted at the base of the distal phalanx.which I already knew I had in my back but I guess that explains my hand / finger joint swelling stiffness and soreness and all my finger joints hurt what I mean by that are the DIP, PIP and Mip joints and they say it's even more rare to have it in my MID joints. And all my joints have always cracked alot. And I look super healthy but I guess my joints and bones tell a different story, lol it is just all hidden on the inside of my body I guess. Everyone always says oh your still young and healthy looking you will be fine lol but I bet they would say different if they had the same problems and still working 60-70hrs a week lol

[jaynependle]

I have oa coming in finger in left hand but I am left handed

[timburris]

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