I'm quite pleased with that - well not pleased exactly, but if you are going to have something incurable go wrong with your hands it can, at least, have a very cool name.
"The Viking Disease" conjures with Wagnerian horned helmets and long boats lined with round shields; it is in a sense piratical. It has theatre.
Dupuytrens Contracture doesn't sound nearly so much fun. The Doctor called it that. I have always known it as the Viking Disease.
My maternal grandmother had it badly. It tends to run in families so I am not in the least surprised. It started with my hand locking shut on jib sheets when we were yacht racing some years ago. It doesn't hurt, but I would have to use the other hand to prise it open and there would be a clicking sensation. For the 10 or 15 years since then that I have been regularly massaging my middle finger straight there has been no pain and only minor inconvenience in that I can't make a fist. The middle finger sticks out (not a gesture I am in the habit of using).
Doesn't straighten properly, doesn't bend fully without jamming, otherwise all good. I'd assumed (hopefully) that it was tendon damaged caused by said sporting activity. It is the middle finger after all, and Dupuytrens tends to take the outermost two fingers first.
It turns out there is a 'trigger finger' version. I pondered that. I wouldn't use this finger to pull a trigger; fire an arrow possibly but not a gun.
I have heard a story that the gesture I alluded to goes back to the Longbowmen of Henry V-ish time (1415) and wars with our French neighbours. The English longbows were so effective that the French threatened to cut the middle finger off any captured longbowman. Waving said middle finger was developed as a taunt.... A taxi driver told me that on my very first day in England.
Welcome to England.
Anyway back to subject in hand - a month or two back, pain developed in the palm of my hand and was clearly linked to the operation of the faulty finger. It hurts like the blazes. I figured I had better ask a medical professional whether it was something I could fix, just in case there was no need to put up with it. The short answer is 'nothing'. Oh - painkillers... and when it has totally crippled your hand, there is surgery, but it sounds like you have a substantial history of managing it well. Carry on as you have been that woman.
Massage.
Don't carry heavy shopping bags.
Quite frankly the surgery option gives me the heebie-jeebies, there is information about cutting and needles and stuff you don't want anywhere near your hands (drugs that dissolve faulty tendon material....! Don't let that stuff start making its own decisions.)
And for as long as I can keep the finger straight it won't get in the way of doing handstands.
I will just have to delete resume guitar lessons from my retirement 'things to do' list....
.... and add learn to do handstands.🤔🤪😂
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| Angel Mr T - he would have a few choice words to contribute on the sanity of doing handstands, and whether Vikings can open catfood cans. |
I agree, the Viking Disease sounds much more arresting. I hope you can 'manage to keep managing' and avoid the surgeon's knife, but hurting like blazes doesn't sound good.
ReplyDeleteOnly hurts when I need a reminder.
DeleteDon't dismiss the the op completely...I know of potters who have been through it..and are back in clay....
ReplyDeleteThat's encouraging. I read it could seriously weaken tendons, which is why they don't consider surgery until grip is seriously affected by the contracture. Potters don't have weak hands.
DeleteI've not heard of this before and must say that it does not sound great, especially the hurting part. I hope you manage to sort out how to manage it without having to resort to surgery. Mxx
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if you don't know someone with a couple of curled in fingers. It seemed common when I was a kid. These days they release those with drugs and surgery if they start to impede motor skills (as it did for my grandmother).
DeleteIt sounds very painful. I’ve never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteI hope it doesn’t progress too quickly and you still have years before you need to have an operation
Angela it is but a tickle compared to what you put up with / manage. A twinge. The sort of thing that serves as a reminder not to try and open jam jars with brute force. 99.8% of the time it is a nothing and .2% an inconvenience.
DeleteYou are in good company. I believe Mrs Thatcher had the same condition.
ReplyDeleteMrs T aside I think I have found the solution to your fox feeding question. Post to follow.
DeleteHow does it react to typing? Maybe it’s a good thing you are now in ‘pre retirement mode’ - leave all that stuff to the other office bods or dictate via built in mic a la apple style then just correct misheard/understood words.
ReplyDeleteConservative management seems to be the way to go.
Typing isn't an issue. Unlike arthritis this is often painless ( mine has been for 15 or so years) and just gradually closes down the affected fingers curling them inward. I work on my bent finger straightening it out whenever I'm sitting around doing nought (boring meetings, riding on trains) so it has only recently given me cause to ask a professional why it has set up occasional pain in my hand. Weeding the garden sets it off - more nature gardening required I guess.
Deletewow, this is totally unheard of by me. Not even a hint of heard the words.. I would do what you are doing, skip that surgery until you can't. maybe never. as for handstands, ha ha, never could never will be able. I do open a lot of cans. hugs coming your way as you deal with what you can/cannot do. Tigger, I miss you and still love you lots and lots...
ReplyDeleteNever heard of it but you might know someone with the two smallest fingers permanently curled inward.
DeletePeter Sellers came to mind, as his locked hand around his throat threatened to kill him. Hand locking on Jibs does not sound like a great idea either. I have never heard of this disease and find it very curious. Why hands? Does it also occur in knees or any other jointed feature? I am with you on the "surgery" fright! Surgery is last ditch!
ReplyDelete_ Linda Sue
Called Viking Disease because most prevalent in Northern Europeans. Men more than women. Isn't a joint problem; it's nodules growing on tendons causing them to stiffen and contract, and jam in tendon sheath. No idea why only hands but I have had other wayward tendon problems over the years (which have also been brought under control by 'management'). In truth it isn't a disease (not a pathogen); it's a disorder (body at war with itself).
DeleteHari Om
ReplyDeleteKnow/n a few with this... have never heard it called Viking disease before, only Dupuytren's. Mother was showing signs of it and as no family history, it was considered occupational hazard...all that wool business. Do you notice anything when knitting? Soldier on it is, then. YAM xx
Knitting is one of the things that doesn't bogher it. Machine quilting is a pzin (but i never liked that job anyway - I call it a job because it follows patchworking (which i love) to turn the patchwork into something useful. Pulling weeds is an issue, and anything that involves closing ths hand, with strength, for a while; like carrying, holding handlebars, .... There are work arounds for everything. Xx TM
ReplyDeleteI had this on my "ring" finger about 30 years ago and it was quite painful. I did have the surgery - done by a hand surgeon. All went well and it healed quickly. I would encourage you to get it fixed and resume guitar lessons.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember what it's called but my mother has it as does my partner who has mainly Danish heritage. I have a bit of it in my 3rd finger on each hand, I have swedish and norwegian ancestry.
ReplyDelete