Rigid and Withered Fingers: What can be done in the form of treatment and investigation?

Are you affected by stiff and withered fingers? Are you wondering what can be done in the form of treatment, exercises, training and assessment by stiff and withered fingers? Then you should read this article.

There can be a number of possible causes of impaired sensation in fingers and hands - including prolapse in the neck, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, circulatory problems or biomechanical factors in muscles and joints. Follow and like us too via social media.

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Rigid / Faded Fingers Here! I am a 28 year old young lady now studying pedagogy in Oslo. For more or less a year and a half I have been struggling with powerless, stiff, weak, pulsating fingers, the same on both hands to varying degrees.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE SYMPTOMS

In the autumn of 2014, I started a 1 and a half year training program from a 7 month illness from the kissing disease. In April and May 2016, I would cross the Greenland ice sheet. A lot of the training was going with poles and pulling tires. I gradually built up and did not begin until March 2016 to notice a stiffness in my fingers after many hours of skiing with a sledge (I lay in a cabin in the mountains for 5 weeks and skied many hours every day with 60 kg + in the sledge). I did not think much about the stiffness, because it went out during the day and the rest of the body was also stiff after training. As I walked across the ice (27 days of walking, between 22-30 km every day) my hands became more and more withered and it was difficult to take down the zipper on the sleeping bag in the morning. But after about 30 minutes of wakefulness, they were fine. But I could not open my drinking bottle if it was hard for the rest of the day. After the crossing, the symptoms disappeared and I no longer thought about it. In mid-October 2016, I started working as a shopkeeper in a dog farm with 115 dogs where I worked 5 days a week daily. The work consisted of picking manure with two ski pole handle-like tools over about 2-3 hours every day. I also carried many 20 liter buckets of liquid and used scoops to feed the dogs and carried about 10 such buckets daily a piece and carried them around between the dogs while I fed each one. Otherwise, there were other carrying tasks, use of axes, saddling of dogs for training, etc. My point is that there was a lot of grip and heavy grip for many hours. Already the first week my fingers withered in the morning and I did not connect the Greenland symptoms until the end of December. I thought the body needs to get used to the work. I continued and continued and the witheredness continued throughout the day and became permanent. One day in early December, I felt that "I can no longer hold this dog" and then I told my employers and went to the doctor. I was reported sick, given medication, stretched, got other tasks as only an instructor without heavy work for the rest of the winter season. My hands remained sore and sank slowly but surely to an "acceptable" level of stiffness until May 2017 and have stabilized on it until now in December it has gotten worse again without me having increased movement or use.

HANDS

I write that they generally felt withered. Most mornings when they are worst I could not open them at all in the morning and somehow had to lay them on the duvet and push them open repeatedly for up to 5 minutes before I could open and close them by themselves. When they opened, the ring finger and little finger seemed to hang again and before they "jumped" up like a notch. For the first hour, for example, I barely managed to squeeze caviar out of the tube and used my palm or hooked things onto my fingers to get clothes on or arrange things. During the day, they got "better" because I was able to do things, but not so well that moving a frying pan with one hand went well. All fingers pounded and pounded. They felt really swollen all over, but it was not like I could see it. The thumb felt worst in that when I bent it a little there was almost something inside the large joint against the palm (almost as if it was filled with a thick porridge in there) that was squeezed and it was really painful as if they were sprained . It has not been painful to squeeze the joints, but blows were painful. Both hands have been just as bad all along. Now it is the case that if I use a little force, such as writing by hand, cutting a lot of vegetables, carrying a box or writing this text, I quickly get "lactic acid" in my fingers and they feel tired. This feeling lingers and it feels like I have "run a marathon" with my hands. Before Greenland, I was never cold on my hands unless it was raining and windy, like, and I always went without gloves even in -20. Now the hands get really cold even on the plus side of the protractor and it feels like the cold is going straight to the joints. It takes a long time before it gets hot again. Just taking eggs out of the fridge, holding them in my hand while I bring out the frying pan and then popping the eggs in the pan, has made them bitterly cold. I get hot again quickly then, but this was never a problem before. Some evenings they pulsate in such a stinging discomfort.

INVESTIGATIONS

I lived in the worst period only temporarily a place so switching GP was something I prioritized. I was with 5 different doctors at the emergency room. They suggested everything from arthritis to congestion, to lie with my wrists right as I sleep, from rest to possible surgery. What may be worth noting is that if I had finished a work day and took myself a 15 minute nap before dinner then my fingers would become stiff in the little time. I went to my GP in Oslo in April 2017 who referred me to such current measurement at Ullevål to see if there was anything wrong with the nerve and that it could be carpal tunnel syndrome. The lady who did the survey now in July 2017 said that the nerves are perfectly fine and she dared not suggest anything else it could be. I have had another hour at my GP on 3 January and hope that you may have some tips on what I can do next.

MY GENERAL FORM

I am physically healthy. Blood tests are fine. I am physically strong and regularly moving. I switched my diet from classic cereals, breads, potatoes, pasta ++ in June to only meat / fish / eggs, vegetables and fats to each meal and manage it pretty much. I wanted more energy, and then I broke out of bread, a lot of stomach problems, gain control of the suction and stabilize the weight. This has missed some during the study, but not wrong. Did not experience much improvement / if anything at all in the 2 months I was very consistent and did not eat sugar or drink soda / juice and walked 30 minutes to 1 and half hour walk each day. Struggles periodically with despondency, some periods very tired, discouraged without having any physical deficiencies or new to knowing me like that. I'm a ponder. I love to walk, exercise push up every day and jog for periods.

Hope you have some tips or thoughts for a possible way forward! I want to get rid of this and possibly ask if it is something dangerous. I have so many long trips left in my life, but my hands hold me back.

Svar

It should be done MR cervical columna to examine for nerve irritation in the neck due to the fact that the symptoms affect bilaterally. You should also receive proven treatment aimed at the cervicotoracal and nearby muscles to process possible causes of nerve irritation there - consisting of joint mobilization, muscular work and possible dry needling - depending on findings on clinical examination. We also recommend exercises to promote mobility in the neck and chest - as well as strength training with gradual progression.

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