Need advice please re daugher diagnosis age 14

[dotty]

Thanks Jax - I really do not want to go down the route of surgery - I am hoping that the consultant I see will refer to other health professionals who can give advice first before we do anything.

Thanks for feedback Dotty

[Finarda]

I strongly suggest you see a hand therapist. They are physios or more likely OTs who specialise in hands. They often work with a hand surgeon as a team. I was referred to one after having significant hand pain - I couldn't even touch the joints and my one finger was rotated quite badly. I saw her for an hour and she made me a custom hand splint that I wear to bed. She also showed me cheap ways to make basically a circle of tape to put around my fingers that tend to pull out of joint. I also bought arthritis compression gloves - they're basically fingerless neoprene gloves, but they take a lot of the pain away just by giving some support to my hands. They also keep them nice and warm too. She also gave me basic exercises to do which were the total opposite of the ones the physio gave me which basically exercised my already overworked flexor muscles and caused my fingers to be out of alignment. The ones she gave me focussed on the small hand muscles which support the fingers and joints.

Here's a link to the UK society of hand therapists - they will probably be able to tell you where to find one in your area.

http://www.hand-therapy.co.uk/

Good luck!

Fiona

[jax]

Thanks Fiona, I hadn't considered the impact that hand exercises could have in reducing pain.

I should ask my son's physio and OT about this as well.

Jax