In this blog post, I’m going to share 3 three tips to decrease finger arthritis pain.
Let’s face it, finger arthritis can be a big pain in the you know what.
Unfortunately, arthritis can develop pretty severely in the hand and fingers.
It can keep you from participating in your favorite hobbies. And even get in the way of your normal daily activities, like tying your shoes or cooking.
So what can you do about it?
You may have figured out that mobility helps loosen up your fingers, and therefore decreases your finger arthritis pain.
Movement, exercises, and stretches can help just about any arthritic joint in your body.
However, there are other ways to prevent the pain from coming on in the first place.
This blog post will share those preventative tips with you below.
Decrease Finger Arthritis Pain Tip #1:
External support to your small finger joints.
Sometimes those little finger joints need a big stability boost.
That may be in the form of a splint, a brace, a ring, or tape. Having some external support to your finger joint can prevent any type of side to side pressure that might happen during your activities.
And in turn, lead to less achiness afterward.
For many people, this type of small lateral movement can be enough to cause sharp pains in the joint.
Unfortunately, every time that happens it could be causing a little more inflammation in that tiny joint space.
So I really like using rings or tape to support your finger joints, while still allowing some mobility. I don’t recommend splints or braces that completely immobilize the whole entire hand or finger.
Typically, that may make your finger more stiff.
Which ultimately can cause more pain. And that’s not what we’re trying to do.
Test yourself
So say your index finger hurts whenever it gets pushed towards your middle finger such as when you turn a doorknob, or open a jar.
You can even do a little test on yourself by applying a light amount of over pressure to the side of your finger. Make sure you apply pressure on both sides of your finger tip.
If you feel that familiar pain, or achiness, then you know that’s the direction your finger doesn’t like.
Then of course, that would be the direction you want to avoid. That little test shows you likely need support to counteract that direction of movement.
What that means is the pressure could be straining your ligaments on that side.
Or maybe you have an arthritis spur, or inflammation rubbing within your joint space.
To help this, I suggest trying something small like an Oval-8 ring.
This ring can reduce the amount of stress to your joints while providing external support during the activities.
Over time of avoiding that lateral stress, you can slowly start taking the ring off.
Eventually, you may not need it anymore. Or you may only need to wear it with certain activities or hobbies.
Another way to support your finger joint is to apply tape.
There are many different brands of tape. I prefer kinesio tape or muscle aid tape.
This type of tape is skin friendly, has little to no adhesive and is waterproof.
It can stay on for a couple of days. However, unfortunately since we use our hands so much you might only get a day or 2 before it comes off.
Just a quick tip, always wash your hands and avoid lotions or oils to help it stay on longer.
If tape sounds like something you want to try then again, you will want to do that over pressure test as described above.
You would apply a piece of tape on the side of your finger to provide lateral support.
To do this, get a good pair of scissors and cut a small strip of tape.
Place the tape above the joint, then apply a 30-40% stretch on the tape. Finally, stick the tape down below your joint. Don’t worry if the piece is a little long.
By stretching the tape, you will get a mild spring back effect. This can reduce too much side to side movement with your activities.
Play around with the placement of tape. You may find relief with tape on both sides of your finger.
It may take some trial and error.
If an activity, or hobby, requires more finger flexibility, you may find the tape a better option.
However, if your finger needs more stability, such as holding a paintbrush or a tool, then the Oval-8 ring may work for you..
Keep in mind, the Oval-8 ring and taping technique will work for your thumb too!
However, the thumb is tricky. Often your thumb needs support at the base.
I do have a video where I share 2 of my favorite thumb CMC braces for decreasing thumb arthritis pain.
Decrease Finger Arthritis Pain Tip #2:
Warm up
Tip #2 is to apply moist heat to your stiff, achy joints. You might notice after you take a shower or bath that your joints feel better.
The warm water increases circulation and makes movement less painful. In return, your stiff achy joints start feeling better and moving more.
I recommend applying moist heat to your hands on a daily basis, at least once or twice a day. Whenever you notice stiffness settling in.
Typically, the morning is not friendly to our finger joints.
Heat before breakfast is always an arthritis friendly way to start the day.
To step it up a notch and get your fingers moving even faster, exercise your fingers at the same time of the moist heat application.
You can use moist heat in a couple of different ways by putting warm water in a bowl, or filling up the sink.
The wonderful thing about using water is that you can move at the same time as your heat.
Killing 2 birds with one stone. While decreasing your finger arthritis pain.
Better yet, do your exercises in the shower.
In fact, here are a few simple exercises that you can do in the water or immediately after your moist heat application.
Some of you may not want to deal with filling up a bowl or sink. Perhaps you just want to sit down, enjoy your evening tv and put some heat on your hand.
In that case, I really like this moist heat wrap by SunnyBay.
It is filled with flaxseed and made here in the United States.
Plus the heat wrap is big enough to wrap around both hands or even use on other body parts.
Keep in mind it can be heavy because it is so densely filled with flaxseed.
To recap this tip, moist heat is a beneficial way to warm up your hands before you start your day or before you start your favorite activities/hobbies.
Decrease Finger Arthritis Pain Tip #3:
Adapt your tools
Tip #3 is using assistive devices or adapting your tools, equipment, utensils, etc.
Nowadays, there are so many types of assistive devices. There’s electric jar openers, electric can openers, built up handles, ergonomic tools, and more.
So many wonderful gadgets to help you do those daily activities that can be painful from finger arthritis.
There are also simple products that you can purchase especially when you’re working with very small tools such as this foam tubing.
The small hole allows you to place small items such as paint brushes, crochet hooks, woodworking tools, etc. Often, these small tools require fine motor precision and sustained pinches.
Using those small tools for long lengths of time can wreak havoc on your little finger joints. Bulking up those items with foam will make them larger.
As a result, your fingers don’t have to pinch as hard. And therefore, your finger joints will be happier.
I really like these foam padding grips here.
It comes in a long tube that you can cut to size. Plus it comes in different widths, from small to larger circumferences.
Perfect if you work with a variety of tools.
Any time you can build up the handles of your tools, will reduce the amount of force your fingers need to pinch.
Letting you continue to paint, crochet and more when otherwise your finger arthritis pain would have gotten in the way.
Of course, you can always look into pre-made ergonomic tools. For example, there are ergonomic crochet hooks that can be a great investment.
Another inexpensive hack is to wrap your tool handle with tape or a washcloth. You can get creative!
Conclusion:
I hope you found these tips to decrease finger arthritis pain helpful.
As you can see, you don’t have to give up on the activities or hobbies you enjoy. There are so many ways to continue doing what you love.
As mentioned above, you can try taping your finger, wearing a ring, heating up your hand, performing exercises, using ergonomic tools, or simply building up your handles.
You can try one, or all of these tips!
Do share this blog post with friends and family that you know are dealing with finger or hand arthritis pain.
Better yet, send them a gift such as the moist heat pack by Sunny Bay or the foam tubing.
*Please note there are affiliate links in the blog post. Commissions may be earned with qualified purchases.
