I Am An Arthritic Person - Dealing With My Hand

No, this is not a piece of flotsam that I picked up on the beach.

It is a Radial Gutter Splint and it is my newest accessory to wear when the joints of my left hand become inflamed and painful with arthritis.

When I was a young girl, I watched my Grandmother struggle with arthritic pain.  Her legs, bowed from rickets as a child, place great strain on her knees.  Over time pain of bone rubbing against bone resulted in two knee replacements which were to some degree, successful, at least for a while.  Her hands also became gnarled and I would watch her working her fingers with thin mercantile cotton thread as she crocheted lacy doilies…working through the pain caused by her arthritic joints rather than give up her beloved pastime.   

At the time, I was young, I felt fit and invincible.  “That will never happen to me!”

Lately, I have been experiencing pain in a couple of joints in my hands.  Nothing that brings tears to my eyes, but feeling enough discomfort to cause me to reach for the anti-inflammatories, to rub cream on the joint, and to rest my hand.  Finally, I decided to consult an orthopedic hand-specialist just to see what I was dealing with and if there was anything I could do to ease it.  After a simple set of X-rays he said… “Yes, you are right, you have the beginnings of arthritis in these joints.”  He suggested that I use a simple hand splint to stabilize the joints when they are in pain and to rest the ligaments. 

My grandmother didn’t have access to this technology of having a custom molded splint of malleable plastic formed to support her fingers.  It took the therapist about 20 minutes to measure, mold and fit the splint for my hand and I walked out with it.  I must admit that while performing daily tasks with it on will take a little getting used to, I can already feel the ease it provides.  In time I should only need to wear it when I have flare-ups. 

While I waited for the splint to be ready, I spoke to two men sitting at the long fitting table where they were having various therapies for their hands.  One man was recovering from having a tendon severed in two places on his right palm when he inadvisedly pushed down some trash in a trash barrel not knowing it contained broken glass. Ouch!  “I didn’t think,” he said.  “I could have prevented this!”

The other young man was trying to recover mobility on his left hand after cutting off the first joint of his ring finger with a circular skill saw while making a play house for his children. Ouch!  “I got careless, didn’t respect the tool, and am responsible for this.” he said.  

We talked about how much we take our physical abilities, our hands, our feet, our eyes for granted and how difficult it is to adjust when they are compromised.  Then one of the men turned to me and said… “And what happened to you?  What did you do to injure your hand?”  What exotic answer could I give?  I was fly fishing and…  I was golfing on the third tee and …  I was preparing a gourmet meal with my Chef’s knives and…  I looked at him and said… “Well, to be honest, I just got old!”