Hand Pain : Arthritis Causes and Symptoms
August 20th, 2008 Posted by: Raymond Lam
Hand arthritis is specifically painful and debilitating due to the fact that hands have nineteen bones and eight small bones that has several small joints. The more common forms of hand arthritis include osteoarthritis, post-traumatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Further causes of hand arthritis might include psoriasis, gout and infection.
The most common symptoms of hand arthritis are pain, swelling and reduced movement resulting in diminished grip and pinch strength. The doctor or physician will also examine all other joints to help aid the diagnosis of hand arthritis.
When you consider how much we use our hands and how much we rely on our hands, if wear and tear causes degenerative types of arthritis, it is no wonder really. All joints get used but we use our hands probably more than any other joints on our entire body!
My mother-in-law fell over in her kitchen and fractured both her wrists. Now this has nothing much to do with arthritis in hands other than the possibility of getting arthritis through traumatic progression but just to prove how inconvenient it is not to be able to use your hands, she had to move in with family members until her wrists had healed some weeks later, as even picking up the kettle to boil water so that she could make a cup of coffee presented a problem!
Hand arthritis can be an extremely debilitating condition, however with proper diagnosis by your doctor or physician the symptoms can be effectively managed and rehabilitation can take place. Like most forms of arthritis early diagnosis is the key to aiding recovery in hand arthritis.
