Cure options

Brigitte

I have been diagnosed with complete lack of cartilage at the base of my right thumb and hardly any cartilage at the base of my left thumb. I am a seamstress and knitter and cannot afford to lose the use of my hands or risk any kind of surgery which may limit my hand mobility. To date my NHS doctor has only offered me two options, a trapeziectomy which he says will reduce pain but may also result in a lack of mobility, or regular 3 month steroid injections. To date I have been having the steroid injections, but would like to know are there any other options available to me even if I have to go privately to seek these out, without going down the trapeziectomy route?

[Deleted User]

Hi @Brigitte

Welcome to the online community!

I'm sorry to hear that you are having such problems and understand how this will affect you quite a lot. It's good that you are finding out about the different options available to you before making a decision, and that you are taking the steroid injections for now- how is this going?

I know you said that you are keen not to go down the route of surgery, but here is some of our information just in case you wanted to find out more:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/surgery/hand-and-wrist-surgery/

Here is some other information about hand and wrist pain which includes some ways of helping to manage the pain:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-of-the-hand-and-wrist/

We also have some exercises that may help to strengthen the muscle which supports the affected joints, but of course, you know your own body so only do what you feel able to manage:

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/exercising-with-arthritis/exercises-for-healthy-joints/exercises-for-the-fingers-hands-and-wrists/

I hope that some of this is useful to you, but we also have many lovely members here who may be able to share their experiences of the surgery or other strategies that they have found helpful themselves. In the meantime, keep talking to us and feel free to join in on the community wherever you feel comfortable to.

Take care,

Sarah

AndyT

I would research the effects of repeated steroid injections in one area, sure I’ve read it’s not recommended to have more than two in small joints.