Because you use your hands throughout each day, it’s often easy to spot changes. If you’ve been struggling with aching hands, you want to determine the cause and find out if there are treatments that can help.
Arthritis is a common cause of aching hands. Residents in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area can rely on hand specialist Carl N. Williams, Jr., MD, for in-depth diagnostic and treatment services, including for joint health issues like arthritis in the hands.
Arthritis, a collection of more than 100 different conditions, creates inflammation and pain within one or more joints of the body. There are several different types of arthritis that can cause problems in your hands.
These conditions attack healthy tissues within the joints of your hands. You can develop arthritis at any area where two bones meet, but it most often affects these areas of the hand:
Arthritis is more common in people over 50, although it can develop sooner. Women are affected more often than men, and white people have a higher risk than other ethnicities. A previous hand injury or a family history of arthritis also increases your risk of developing arthritis.
Here are five of the more common signs of arthritis in the hands.
Discomfort is one of the leading symptoms of arthritis in the hands. Because there’s very little room within these small joints, the inflammation has nowhere to expand and it puts pressure on nearby nerves. This creates pain signals that can make your hands throb or hurt.
If you find yourself struggling to open and close your hand normally, it may be due to inflammation within your joints. Many people find that their hands are most stiff upon waking in the morning and seem to loosen up as they move through the day.
Stiffness that improves within 5-15 minutes of waking may be osteoarthritis, a degenerative form of arthritis, while stiffness that lasts for an hour or longer after waking might be caused by inflammatory arthritis.
If you notice changes in your skin or nails, you might be suffering from psoriatic arthritis. This form of arthritis also causes morning joint stiffness as well as joint pain. Most people with psoriatic arthritis also notice that their fingers look swollen or puffy. Some also report fatigue and changes in their fingernails, including discoloration and loosening of the nail plate.
If you’ve been diagnosed with the skin condition psoriasis, pay close attention to flare-ups, as your risk of a psoriatic arthritis flare-up also rises.
One of the indications that you might have arthritis in one or both hands is changes in the color of your skin. If you notice that the skin around your hand joints appears more red than normal, it might be due to swelling and other changes to the underlying tissue.
You use your hands and fingers throughout each day to perform innumerable tasks. If you find yourself unable to achieve the same level of dexterity or flexing in your hands or fingers, it might be caused by an inflammatory condition in your hand joints.
Arthritis is a treatable condition, and there are a number of different ways to approach the problem. Once Dr. Williams determines the source of your symptoms and the type of arthritis you’re dealing with, he crafts a customized treatment plan to help relieve symptoms.
Treatment might include wearing a brace or splint to support your hand and stabilize the affected joint(s). There are also medications that can help manage symptoms, especially for rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. Steroid injections can help if medication isn’t delivering the desired improvements.
Specific hand exercises can help relieve some of the symptoms of arthritis, as can using heat and cold to help with discomfort and swelling. Regenerative therapies also offer hope for people with hand arthritis.
In some cases, hand surgery is the best way to deliver lasting relief. Some procedures fuse bones together, while others focus on transferring healthy tendon tissue to reinforce damaged tendons. Joint replacement surgery is also an option for some patients.
When you’re ready to move beyond aching, swollen hands, the team at Carl N. Williams, Jr., M.D. Hand and Plastic Surgery is standing by to assist. Call our office or use online booking today.
