UKC

Speaking to a friend today. She's developed arthritis in her fingers (at age 50). What can she do to minimise the impact while still climbing?

Sample size of 1 and minimal medical evidence to support it, but the thing that made a huge difference to my finger joints was diet, specifically  cutting out dairy. What's the root cause of her inflammation? 

Keep moving the fingers, keep using them, keep climbing. Open handed grip can help as it puts less stress on the joints.

I've grown various extra boney lumps on my finger joints over the last few years and have two permanently swollen knuckles. When mine have flared up 10% ibuprofen gel helps me a lot.

At 50 and female it is worth considering whether hormones are also playing a part. Peri/post menopause hormones changes can make joint issues much worse thus might be worth considering HRT or at least talking to her GP. 

I'm mid 50s and suffering from arthritis in several finger joints. I find taping the affected joints to support them helps (as opposed to the more usual taping between the joints for supporting pulleys). It reduces their mobility but doesn't actually seem to affect their performance.

Training with open hand grips and avoiding crimps puts less strain on the joints. Also, as soon as possible after training sessions I put my hands in iced water to reduce inflammation. On multi day climbing trips where icing isn't possible, I take ibuprofen.

And finally, on the benefits of keeping fingers mobile, I've found that if I play the piano* after a wall session my fingers stiffen up less overnight.

*Other finger mobility exercises are available

I’ve got several arthritic finger and toe joints.. legacy from Lyme disease. At least now it treated it’s not progressing 

Taking a good glucosamine and chondroitin supplement made a big difference for me.

Are they not quite implacated in Dupytrens, with minimal benefit shown in most studies for arthritis? 

Has she been properly assessed? My consultant is supportive of keeping doing the things I love, running and climbing. The right meds can really help.

Duptyrens is a bit of an outlier - if you have it, don't take glucosamine or Vitamin C

I was at the stage of giving up trying to push myself climbing. I was trying to use open hands as much as possible but there are times you need to crimp. I was taping finger joints, doing exercises, playing guitar and mainlining ibuprofen. Dogs were recommended glucosamine/chondroitin for stiffness and it helped them so I got some for myself. There was an immediate improvement. So from my sample of three (two dogs and me) there is a 100% success rate.

Mines auto-immune and mainly affects my right thumb. I'm guessing your friends is ostio arthritis though?

Either way, ibuprofen gel may help (careful with how much and how often), as mentioned above diet can have an impact, mobilisation exercises can help. Hot / cold therapy can give relief. When climbing as long I keep my fingers warm I'm generally fine, gloves for belay and a hand warmer (the old charcoal type, Zippo burner or battery operated all work).

Winter climbing is a little trickier, a tip I've had is Tadalafil (generic Cialis) of all things. I tried it last year and it seemed to help reduce hot aches at any rate! Iirc the research suggest that it inhibits TNFa (inflammatory cytokine) within joints thus acting as an anti-inflammatory...
There may be other 'perks' as well.

Presumably all of you now have a glossy coat and cold nose?

​​​​I'm glad it works for someone. I've tried it and it made no difference whatsoever.

I've read that it can be hit or miss so worth a try at least.

If you dont want to use the Ibuprofen/Diclofenac gels (which are effective, especially the stronger strength Voltarol) then I find the Green lipped muscle extract very good.

Use it every night whether I have been climbing or not, means I can waken up in the morning without stiff/sore fingers.

Every bit as good as the NSAI drugs. Trade name is Pernaton and Amazon usually have it cheaper than most other places.

I have found no benefit at all from Glucosamine and other supplements.

My wife as developed a pretty acute case of arthritis at age 51 due to pre-menopause. The pain in her joint has made rock climbing pretty much impossible. She managed to get on an HRT program, which has made a bit of a difference. But getting the right dose of your GP is pretty much impossible, it needs to be much higher than what they prescribe. Patches are better than cream as they are easier to control dosing. 

Hi.  How do you know that the cause of the arthritis is pre-menopause?  Is it just a guess because of her age.  Or is there some test?

And re: your point about dosage: how did you know the prescribed dosage was insufficient, and how on earth do you get more than that -- given that the GPs are the gatekeepers.  Unless you or her are a doc/researcher yourself, maybe  

I'm interested because we get a pretty unsupportive and unfriendly response from our GPs about these issues.  "What do you expect at your age being active and all that!!!..."  It would be nice to be able to try/test things independently of the NHS.

well that was a journey in itself. She had and still has to a certain extent the same shite treatment from the GP. However she went to Newson Health clinic, got a diagnose and a recommended dose for HRT patches and she went back to the GP with that. It took a while to bring him around, specially to prescribe a higher dose, but she sort of got there at the end. Well, I mean, she can bear the pain on there joints after climbing, whereas before she couldn't hold a cup of tea. A lot of her friends haven't been so lucky, but she fully recommends the Newson Health route, at least to know whether is menopause related or not. 

Thanks.  That's great info.  Best wishes for your partner.