RA Progression in Hands | Arthritis Information

Most of my difficulties have been with the feet, ankles and shoulders. I've had a few days with my hands getting stiff and slightly sore, but nothing more than a few days. Lately I have had continued soreness in the first set of knuckles (metaphalangeal sp?) and the first set of knuckles. Also, a strange overall achiness radiating from the upper palms and even on the outside of the hands.

Is this the typical progression in the hands? I'm still able to function, but I notice my handwriting and guitar playing is more awkward. More like a loss of motor function on a micro scale. Is this common and how fast has it progressed for those who have difficulty with the hands?

I am not sure about the word progression. Since last April I have had problems with my knees, ankles elbows, feet and the hands were the worst of all. I could hardly pick up my jeans after going to the toilet.

It changes all the time for me. Last few days I had a swollen finger and used a pair of plyers to get my wedding ring off. I think the wedding ring was stopping the blood flow. My ring is scrached up. It is a plain band.
Michael says dont wear it.

It all seems to move around for me.

It is hard to say because my hands are terrible sometimes and others, not so painful. I guess they are always bad, but some days I can ignore it better.

First of all, make sure your doctor is paying attention to what is going on with your hands. Get xrays and make sure your meds are working good. That's the key to stopping progression.

In the meantime, get yourself a parafin bath from Walmart, around and treat your hands to it twice a day. It really helps a lot and feels luxiourious. You will have really soft hands and the heat penetrates deeply. Also, pick up some generic sports creme. It's cheap and it really helps a lot. Then do some hand exercises on a daily basis such as touching your thumb to each of your fingers. Crumbling newspapers into smaller and smaller balls helps strengthens your hands. Also those stress balls are good if you have the strength still. If you keyboard, use compression gloves. They are wonderful. They cost about a glove but worth it if you spend any time on the computer. If your wrists bother you, then try the wrist braces for computers or talk to your doctor about wearing the sport wrist braces at night.

You do want to build and strengthen your fingers as much as possible. So all these little things together can really make a difference. There are also a lot of tools to make jobs easier and less stressful to your hands. Main thing is to keep the RA under control.

I will also try out some of the above suggestions. What helps me a lot is wearing splints. I had some given to me a few years ago, they do not look fashionable as they are I, think an older model with a heavy metal slide that slips into a pouch. I have a more modern splint that is not nearly as effective. I find if I am having problems with my hands, wrists or arms & wear them for a day or so, annoying as they are, it seems shorten the flaring time considerably. I like the sound of a parafin bath - we dont have Walmart here and havent looked for a hand bath - am guessing they are a smaller version of the foot bath.

Yes, mine started in my feet 10 years ago. I couldn't get my shoes on. Went to foot doctor and he said 'you have arthritis', I didn't want to believe it . I treated myself for all sorts of foot related things, but nothing worked. I got to the RA doctor about 5 years into my illness. Started with Plaquinel, then changed doctors and onto MTX.

My hands get sort of numb or unresponsive at times (i.e. I have trouble holding the chalk at work or typing). It's odd, because it doesn't necessarily correspond with any visible swelling. This is a mysterious illness ;)

6xmum, you want them to check for carpal tunnel or neuropathy. RA can cause both to happen and they need to be treated differently. I wish someone had told me this earlier.

Wear compression gloves and wrap around splints like out of the office catalog at work. Make sure you have the ergonomic mouse/keyboard and that your workstation is set up properly. These are little things but they make a huge difference.

As a fellow (now former) guitar player, I am sorry to hear that your hands are becoming invloved. As for me, the first signs I had of RA were stiff, puffy fingers circa 1998. The last time I played a guitar was at a former bandmate's 50th wedding anniversary in Dec1999. At that time I was having severe carpal tunnel-like symptoms (numbness, tingling, etc.) but could still manage to wrap my fingering hand around the neck and play. That was the last time I ever played the guitar. Due to loss of range of motion, I cannot play the guitar anymore and have given up hope of ever ragaining any ROM thanks to stupid doctors. My RA is in remission now thanks to supplements that I take, but the joint damage that occurred prior to figuring out what to take appears to be permanent. So, do what you have to do to keep your joints from deteriorating NOW if you want to keep playing the guitar. Guitar playing was my life, and now it's gone :( Had hopes of being a blues guy in my golden years and having a band with my kids, but that ain't happening anymore. Guess I'll have to resort to picking up aluminum cans to supplement my pension. Life sucks sometimes.

Before I would give up my passion, I would see a hand , wrist, and elbow surgeon. Maybe with some repair and a lot of PT and determination you could play again.