Hi all,
I was recently diagnosed with osteoarthrosis in the ball joint of my thumb in both hands after an x-ray. I figured for years that I had just strained them because I'm double jointed in all my fingers (generally bendy all over too) and that I just wasn't giving it time to heal with one thing and another. I would go for stretches with no problems and out of nowhere I would pick something up the wrong way and get a bolt of pain. I'm not even talking about anything heavy; it's happened with bowls, mugs, controllers etc.
Recently this seems to have crept into the index, middle and ring finger of my right hand in the middle joint of all the same fingers and leaves my hand in a slightly 'scooped' position when it's totally relaxed and I have to put a tiny bit of effort to keep them straight. I'm only 38 and have been experiencing thumb pain since about 30.
I guess my questions are, how old were you when you were diagnosed, did it affect your playing, did you have to modify your technique and how did it affect your life in general?
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't frightened about it getting to the point where I can't play any more. My doctor is useless as well - he's told me to take ibuprofen and that there's nothing he can prescribe me that will do a better job! I'm not GP but there's more effective pain relief than ibuprofen! I'm actually considering moving practices as I feel that I've been fobbed off and they just don't care.
Anyway, enough of my moaning. I just wanted to get it off my chest mainly, but any advice or experiences you guys have had would help. After all, you probably wouldn't be on the forum if you ddin't play any more, although even I've been known to be wrong occasionally 😄
Chris