Originally Posted by
metalheart44
Thanks ... the Mayo Clinic site says:
"Avoiding a tight grip on tools by building up the handles with pipe insulation or cushion tape
Using gloves with heavy padding during heavy grasping tasks"...
While padding may help if you have pain relate to the contracture, it doesn't do anything for the problem itself. For years it was thought that these were caused by something we did, or environmental factors, the current theory is that it has an underlying genetic cause and will run whatever course is "programmed" regardless of anything we do or don't do.
As I said, I've been living and watching the progress of a contracture in my left hand for 15 years or so. At the time, there were early signs of one in my right hand. The surgeon who would have treated me, said there ws no guaranty that it wouldn't come back, especially since there's family history. He said to consider the surgery successful if the left hand stayed OK for a while as the none in my right developed. So far, however, the right hasn't progressed at all beyond the incipient stage.
Who knows, maybe if I treat the left hand, the right will take that as a cue, or maybe not.