# Dupuytren's Contracture



## thewoodlands (Aug 26, 2020)

I've been dealing with it for years and on Jan.28 2019 we went to see a orthopedic surgeon in our area, he recommended shots of XiaFlex in the affected area on my left hand and then everything shutdown.

Once our insurance approved everything the appointment was made, on August the 12 I had the shots of XiaFlex and we returned August 15 on Saturday for what they call the release. They numb the same area the first shots went and wait 10 minutes and then place your hand palm down on the table and press down, huge pop happened but never any pain. My small finger on my left hand was pulling down it down into the palm.

Today was my second session with PT, they gave me the go ahead to work with any weight I want. After my first session I was limited at what they would let me do but all the hand exercises they gave me did the trick.

The first two pictures was what I was dealing with, I had a big lump at the base of my small finger that was causing the skin to tear, the last two pictures are after the release.


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## fbelec (Sep 1, 2020)

wow and i thought my trigger finger was bad. now it only triggers when my hands swell from my gout


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## festerw (Sep 1, 2020)

I had surgery on mine last year fortunately wasn't as extreme as yours but made it difficult to use hand tools without aching.

Was not something I planned on dealing with at 37. Doesn't look terrible but I couldn't straighten my finger for about a year before the surgery. Now you can't even see the scar unless your know where it is.


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## thewoodlands (Sep 1, 2020)

festerw said:


> I had surgery on mine last year fortunately wasn't as extreme as yours but made it difficult to use hand tools without aching.
> 
> Was not something I planned on dealing with at 37. Doesn't look terrible but I couldn't straighten my finger for about a year before the surgery. Now you can't even see the scar unless your know where it is.
> 
> ...


I'd like your post but it looks like you had some pain. I just had my last P.T. session today (very short) the tested my hands again for strength, I had 100 with my bad hand and 105 with my good hand. I think the first time the tested my bad hand, I did 80, the second time 95 and today 100.

She told me I don't have to do the exercises anymore since the lifted any weight limits on my bad hand but I'll do them twice a day through the end of September.

I had my first P.T. session 16 days ago and last week they lifted any weight restrictions on the affected hand. Since they didn't have me do any exercises today, I had three P.T. sessions before they lifted the weight restrictions.


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## festerw (Sep 1, 2020)

thewoodlands said:


> I'd like your post but it looks like you had some pain. I just had my last P.T. session today (very short) the tested my hands again for strength, I had 100 with my bad hand and 105 with my good hand. I think the first time the tested my bad hand, I did 80, the second time 95 and today 100.
> 
> She told me I don't have to do the exercises anymore since the lifted any weight limits on my bad hand but I'll do them twice a day through the end of September.
> 
> I had my first P.T. session 16 days ago and last week they lifted any weight restrictions on the affected hand. Since they didn't have me do any exercises today, I had three P.T. sessions before they lifted the weight restrictions.



Not too bad to be honest. Couple days of ibuprofen and sensitive for about 2 weeks.

Cool that there's some things that work without getting cut and have a quick recovery time as well.


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## thewoodlands (Sep 9, 2020)

The  affected hand/finger is still doing pretty good. I ran the chainsaw for about three days straight before I took a break since I had a different color to the skin in that area but after one day off it was back to normal.


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## thewoodlands (Sep 10, 2020)

I had my appointment this morning with a P.A., with all the blood vessels in the hand the bruising or discoloration after working with the chainsaw for three days was expected at this time. I told the P.A. that the color was pretty much back to normal later the next day, she said that was good.

She said from all the releases that she has seen from using Xiaflex, mine had the best results. She did say that she never saw my before pics but the results looked great. It's not a cure but hopefully I won't have to deal with this for a long time.


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## fbelec (Sep 11, 2020)

that picture is great


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## thewoodlands (Sep 11, 2020)

fbelec said:


> that picture is great


I grabbed it off a site on the web, it's amazing all the blood vessels. 

I did run the saw yesterday for about an hour with just plain work gloves because I was handling pine, the affected area has no discoloration and feels great.


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## fbelec (Sep 12, 2020)

nice when something works out. thats great


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## thewoodlands (Sep 14, 2020)

This morning my ring finger was very stiff so I put the ice pack on it for seven minutes and things were fine.  This was the worst it has been since the Xiaflex shots, I've put the ice pack on twice so far today with it going on again just before I call it a night.

I don't have any pain it was just stiff.


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## thewoodlands (Sep 26, 2020)

Just an update on my affected finger (small finger) it's still not 100 percent but still it's strong enough for the work I'm doing. I'm still dealing with the swelling in the morning but they said that would be the norm until possibly February.


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## begreen (Sep 26, 2020)

Good to hear there is progress.


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## thewoodlands (Sep 26, 2020)

begreen said:


> Good to hear there is progress.


I'm happy with the progress and how it feels, I wasn't sure what to expect but according to P.T., I was ahead of schedule on my recovery.

Our insurance even okayed another 10 P.T. sessions but I didn't need any of those, I think that I went a total of four times to P.T. and the last one was very short.


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## thewoodlands (Oct 7, 2020)

The affected hand is still coming along pretty good but I'm still dealing with some swelling but nothing like it was. I did have a different feeling shoot up the back of the affected hand while loading up some nice heavy rounds of Ironwood (American Hophornbeam) but nothing like that in the last three days.

Using the pole saw when limbing up some old pines was a good test for it, it's still not 100 percent from the feelings I had from that but it wasn't in the affect area, it was in the back of my hand again.


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## thewoodlands (Nov 19, 2020)

My affected hand is doing pretty good, in the morning it use to take about 15 or 20 bending of the fingers before the stiffness would go away but I'm down to 2 fist makers before the stiffness is gone. I still have some swelling but they did tell me that might be around until February of 2021.

I think my strength in the affected area is back, the last time I used the pole saw I could feel it in a few fingers but after running the pole saw today, those fingers feel fine.


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## begreen (Nov 19, 2020)

Good news.  Hope by Feb you forget it even happened.


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## thewoodlands (Nov 20, 2020)

begreen said:


> Good news.  Hope by Feb you forget it even happened.


I hope so too, at the end of February the splint that I have to wear at night comes off too, that will be nice. Since my fingers on that hand have been feeling better, I've only forgot it twice. Those two times I forgot to wear it, my fingers were just fine in the morning and I never needed any fist clinching in the morning to chase the stiffness.

The splint is training the tendon (hope that's the correct term) to be stretched  out again after too many years of non use and being affected by the cord tissue buildup. The doc told me not all cases have the outcome mine did so we're happy with everything.


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## thewoodlands (Jan 19, 2021)

Just a small update, I still have some swelling in the affected hand but nothing like it was after the shots. It still takes one closing of the fist in the morning which takes the stiffness out of it. Hopefully by the end of February when the wearing of the splint at night is done, the swelling is down even more.


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## Grizzerbear (Jan 19, 2021)

@thewoodlands did you ever have any symptoms before the visual signs. When I do any strenuous activity that requires a lot of hand work.....like hand splitting for instance....the next few nights I will wake up with terrible numbness in my pinky, ring and middle fingers and they will be hard to straighten out. My grandfather had the same condition except his middle finger and thumb were normal while the pinky, ring and index were drawn tight. His were so bad that they stayed drawed up permanently and he never got it fixed. He always used his middle finger to point at stuff. My uncle had it as well but he had surgery. My father never had it but I'm thinking that one day I will be following your footsteps.


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## thewoodlands (Jan 25, 2021)

Grizzerbear said:


> @thewoodlands did you ever have any symptoms before the visual signs. When I do any strenuous activity that requires a lot of hand work.....like hand splitting for instance....the next few nights I will wake up with terrible numbness in my pinky, ring and middle fingers and they will be hard to straighten out. My grandfather had the same condition except his middle finger and thumb were normal while the pinky, ring and index were drawn tight. His were so bad that they stayed drawed up permanently and he never got it fixed. He always used his middle finger to point at stuff. My uncle had it as well but he had surgery. My father never had it but I'm thinking that one day I will be following your footsteps.


I never had any symptoms before and never any real bad pain from it while working with a chainsaw or splitting with hydraulic splitter.

The nodule at the base of my small finger got so big the skin ripped apart, that was the only part that gave me any type of pain but not that bad.

Dupuytren's  Contracture has started in my other hand in the exact same area my treated hand had it.


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