• Mar 11

    How to Care and Cure Thumb Arthritis
    Thumb arthritis can be felt right at the base joints of the thumbs. It is what you use when you pinch or grip. If you feel inflammation around the cartilage in the joins of the thumb you may have suffer from thumb arthritis. If you do suffer from this, this is what you can do.

    Cure Arthritis in Thumbs Now 

    Thumb arthritis is a health concern involving the loss and inflammation of the cartilage in the joints of the thumb. Thumb arthritis belongs to the bigger group of arthritis, osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis occurs due to the regular wear and tear of the joints and its cartilages. Thumb arthritis can be felt right at the base joints of the thumbs, exactly at the part where the thumbs meet the wrists. This particular joint is referred to as the carpometacarpal joints or the CMC. It is what you use when you pinch or grip. Researches show that thumb arthritis is commonly seen in women than it is in men. It usually occurs when one reaches 40 years of age.

    The symptoms of thumb arthritis are almost the same with other types of arthritis. However, there are symptoms specific to the disease, like the pain felt right at the base or joints of the thumb. There would also be swelling and redness in and around the area. If you have thumb arthritis and you try to move your thumbs, you will feel a grinding sensation. This is coupled with intense pain too. As a result, your thumb will have limited motion. You would experience difficulty in gripping because of the pain. Using your thumb for normal activities such as turning keys, opening doors, and opening jars would be a challenge for you.

    When you experience these symptoms it is best that you go to a medical expert for help. The doctor would check your thumb and diagnose the exact cause of the disease. There’s no special test necessary for this. A regular x-ray would usually do. The x-ray would also show if your condition can still be cured with non-evasive methods of treating the problem. Else, surgery may be the answer.

    But before considering surgery, doctors usually try other ways to treat thumb arthritis. Surgery is usually the last resort when it comes to these cases. The first line of treatment would be the use of anti-inflammatory medications. These medicines are supposed to be taken on a regular basis or whenever the pain strikes. You must follow the instructions of your doctor when taking NSAIDs. NSAID stands for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

    Aside from medicines, other treatment methods such as thumb abduction splints and cortisone injections are also performed. Splints are placed over the thumb joints so as to restrict it movements and relieve the swelling. More severe cases of thumb arthritis may require a brace and not just a simple splint. Other than splints and braces, cortisone may be injected into the thumb area so that the symptoms of the disease are treated immediately. Cortisone is a very powerful anti-inflammatory medicine that could work right away when administered directly on the skin.

    Arthritis In Thumbs Pain Relief
    Basilar joint arthritis treatment involves first making the proper diagnosis. That can be done by seeing a hand specialist and having x-rays of the thumb and wrist done. The x-rays don’t always match what you’re feeling, though.

    Pain In Your Thumb - Is It Symptoms of Thumb Arthritis?
    Do you have pain in the base of your thumb? Because of the type of work I did for so many years, I was very familiar with pain at the base of the thumb–it was mine.I used my thumbs to [...]

    Part 2 - For part two of this article, head on to http://www.psoraticarthritisreview.com where you can also find the truth about natural arthritis pain relief and herbal treatment for arthritis.

    By Edward Chen
    Published: 9/20/2008
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