Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) classically affects the hand joints and often causes hand deformities in addition to pain and swelling. If RA is affecting your hands, you should consider hand therapy as part of your treatment and start in the early stages of the disease.

Delaying Deformities

One management approach used in hand therapy is splinting. Prompt intervention with finger splints may help delay finger deformities due to RA. Finger splints look similar to rings and the bands fit above and below the knuckle (proximal interphalangeal joint) of your finger. The splint helps keep your finger straight and can reduce the chances of tendon slippage, which causes permanent flexion and hyperextension of the finger joints. It is better to utilize splinting in the early stages of hand deformities before complete tendon slippage occurs. Once significant deformities have occurred, they cannot be corrected with splints and will require surgery for repair.

Improving Dexterity

Stiffness, swelling and deformities can impede daily activities or your ability to work with your hands. Your physical therapist can teach you ways to compensate for changes in your hands. Part of hand therapy is doing exercises to help you maintain your current dexterity and limit future loss of dexterity.

Your physical therapist will show you various hand exercises to do at each session and monitor any changes in your ability to complete these exercises. Monitoring of your performance and any pain during each appointment can help your treatment team identify signs that your disease is progressing. Your physical therapist may also show you specific hand exercises you can perform at home, between appointments.

Reducing Pain

Hand therapy as a method of reducing pain can seem counterproductive, but learning hand exercises to safely move your hand joints can help you avoid injury while keeping your hands limber. During hand therapy, your physical therapist will teach you the safest ways to use your hands to avoid unnecessary strain on inflamed or damaged joints and supporting tissues.

Regular hand exercises can reduce stiffness that makes it more painful and difficult to use your hands, especially upon awakening or after periods of inactivity. Your physical therapist will also suggest ways to alleviate stiffness before you starting using your hands for the day or to minimize pain in your hands after use. Forms of heat therapy, such as paraffin wax treatments or moist heat therapy, allow deeper penetration of heat to reduce stiffness and pain.

Hand therapy for RA can be intimidating because you may be concerned about increasing pain by participating. However, hand therapy is an important component to help reduce the long-term disability associated with moderate to severe RA.

For more information, contact Advance Physical Therapy & Sports Rehabilitation or a similar location.