Anyone got this?

What I thought was a delightful little blemish on my hands that the kids tried to dig out turns out to be a symptom of a potentially serious condition.

If you have had it  – did you do anything? Especially before it got too serious.  And if so, what treatment? The radiation? The needle? The drugs?

I’m off to the doctors’ on Thursday to discuss it (and a broken finger that’s set in the wrong place. Lovely hands me), but I’d like to go somewhat prepared….

Yes.

Likely you will be referred to consultant for detailed examination; there are two further options you could have listed – do nothing or have surgery to remove the tissue.

In my experience it develops slowly and I’ve never heard it described as ‘….potentially serious’.

Unless you have private medical cover a consultant is unlikely to do much until the condition becomes intrusive; a visible nodule under the skin won’t get them interested; if the Dupuytrens is causing the finger to bend towards the palm they will probably consider an invasive procedure.

If your dad is still alive ask him if he has anything similar; it’s generally regarded as hereditary in the male line.

Sounds like it might interfere with your ability to ride a bike one way or the other?

About six months after I broke my right wrist I developed it in my right hand. It was pretty mild and after a while it went away again.
A few years later I broke my left wrist and some time after that it developed in that hand. It may just be coincidence but I think it was triggered by the trauma. Anyway this one is not going away.
I can no longer flatten my hand. I have perhaps ten degrees of curvature. The last time I showed it to my GP he said it wasn’t serious enough to do anything about. If it continues to get worse then perhaps I’ll get something done.
My mother had it too and had a successful operation to fix it. The recovery was apparently quite sore.

Yup, got it in both hands, with the left worse than the right. I thought it was just an annoying dent from holding an iPad at night, but it’s sore for pressups and sometimes barbell lifting. The right hand has developed more recently and more quickly (that I can see).

My referral said that they would not consider anything until I got to about 30 degrees off flat or it started seriously impacting things. Truly a catch 22 given that by that time it will be too late.

I am not aware of serious side-effects, but there is a correlation with both Nordic bloodlines and diabetes.

Molgrips – unlikely to interfere with bike riding, even without gloves.

Sounds like it might interfere with your ability to ride a bike one way or the other?

Probably not. I have a couple of musician friends who have it and can still play OK. One has had steroid injections the other is currently trying out the radiation treatment.

Get it seen. Just had fourth corrective surgery on my hands (3r 1l) which are a pita and will keep you off the bike for a month or two and stop you driving for a similar time.

Can also affect feet and the gentleman’s part.

Plus side is if caught early I was told there is potential to treat with steroid injections hence don’t be fobbed off.

Yeah, for about ten years or so. I assumed climbing related as it’s common amongst climbers, though given how shite I am (more accurately was) at actual climbing maybe the genetic component counts for more? Whatever, never considered it a big deal other than as a barely earned badge of climbing honour and general Vikingness. Only docs who’ve seen it have done so in the pub and proceeded to take the piss…

(Editing to say having just seen the posts above, I’m just talking about some lumps on both palms which have been stable for ages. No sign of athlete’s plonker yet, unfortunately…)

okay –  potentially serious may be a little bit of hyperbole.

However, having seen photos on t’interweb, if (and a bit if) it gets bad, it could interfere with quite a lot of life.

It does ache after splitting wood, or gripping bike handlebars for a long time. And it is getting worse; the nodule/dent is more pronounced, and you can see and feel the track of the tendons

I have private health with no excess, so I will push for some sort of treatment. If I’m going to be incapacitated anyway when they re break the dodgy finger, I might as well have it done at the same time.

Yep!

I have one in my left hand which is made worse/partly caused by missing my left linger finger and about 1/3 of my palm on my left hand.

It’s not really problematic at the moment aside from a callous forming in the centre of my palm when putting the miles in on the bike or lifting weights.

Not finding grip strength to be an issue at the moment.  I can feel the extra resistance to straightening the finger but that’s about it.

I’m planning on leaving mine alone until it’s significantly worse.

Mine appeared in my early 20s, about 10 years ago, in both hands. It is very slowly getting worse, but in general it doesnt bother me – I get callouses when I am climbing and is generally a bit annoying every now and again if holding things for a long time or when I am doing geological coring for work – but as comments above, the surgeon I saw at the time told me to come back once it was a lot worse and I couldn’t lie my hand flat.

Bearing in mind at the moment I am waiting for an ACL reconstruction and meniscus tear to be sorted, my ‘viking hand’ (as we call it, due to the Nordic link!), really doesn’t seem worth worrying about after 6.5 months off the bike (and a another 7-12 months ahead of me!).

I have it in my left little finger and have had corrective surgery twice in the same place, last time was September last year, and it was contracted almost 90 degrees, it back to about 40 degrees now and that’s the best I can expect.

I was told depending on the joint affected it can either be released fully or may be permanently bent, below is what it looked like before the last surgery. as mentioned above it will keep you off the bike for a few weeks.

I’ve also go it in my thumb and on the palm of my hand but as yet they are not causing any issues.

Has anyone else in the family got it? Any Vikings in the family 😉 ?

haven’t asked the family yet. Seeing the parents on Sunday, so was going to wait until I heard what the doctor said before springing the joyful news on them.

As to vikings – hah! No. But who knows 20 generations back; one brother is ginger after all.

Bill Nighy has this, so you are in good company!

My understanding is that surgical interventions have the greatest history of success, and the good news is that the success rate is high. However you may well be discouraged from surgery until the joint has become sufficiently flexed as to have an impact on your quality of life. This is because all surgery has inherent risks and is best avoided if there are more suitable options- particularly when dealing with something as delicate and essential as the hands!! 🙂

I suffered from Dupuytren’s contracture for a number of years. I eventually presented to my GP when it got to the stage that I could no longer place my palm flat on the floor to do a press up. It was also getting difficult putting gloves on, putting my hands in my pockets (especially jeans) and was beginning to impede manual dexterity.

I had a full thickness fasciectomy last September. I was off work for four days, off the bike for six weeks (but back running within a couple of weeks of the op).

It’s a relatively minor procedure, although the condition is likely to reoccur and further intervention may be necessary at some stage.

For me, it was well worth it. My finger is perfectly straight now and I don’t think I realised how much it was inconveniencing me.