I'm getting my first signs of arthritis in my left index finger joint. It's not very painful yet, I'm going to take collagen for it, along with the omega 3's I've been taking already. I want to lube the first index finger joint with the collagen. If I fret the B string at the 1st fret with my index, for instance, and then remove it, I have to "pop" it, or it stays locked in that bent angle. Right now it just throws my brain off a little, it doesn't really hurt.
What are other ways to deal with arthritis?
I'm no doc,* but could ^^ be trigger finger?
* and that's the truth!!
I had that locked finger thing a couple of years ago, Doug. I started doing Kurt Kemp’s finger/hand exercises https://youtu.be/FcbZb_Snxr8 and also started drinking a mix of turmeric, ginger, cloves, and black pepper every day. I eat very little red meat and have a big salad every day which includes garlic and cruciferous vegetables.
I also rub in magnesium oil periodically , as well as emu oil. What I read was that arthritis is caused by inflammation , so I looked up everything that fights it off. Good luck.
p.s. , almost forgot ; Pat Cloud mentioned this a few years ago on here,, open and close your hands/fingers 20 times quickly, palms down,,, then turn palms up and do the same.
Edited by - chuckv97 on 04/24/2025 19:56:34
At 67 years old, my fingers have more locks than a public bike rack.
Good advice from Chuck. In addition to what you should do, there are things you should not do. Avoid sugar in all its forms. Some people are sensitive to gluten. I have arthritis too, but it's not getting worse. Sometimes you just have to work with what you've got.
Having suffered really badly from arthritis I agree with some of the above comments. Diet and exercise is the key to keeping it at bay. You do have to make some quite difficult choices. For instance I found my caffeine habit very difficult to kick. Then there are the nightshade family vegetables. It's not easy.
sounds like a trigger finger not arthritis. I've had a bunch of them. Steroid injection made some go away but I had to have surgery on a couple also. Surgery was a piece of cake and well worth it, I also had a couple that just went away. My suggestion...see an orthopedic surgeon.
Ditto on what gbisignal said. My wife is fairly fanatic on health food and exercise, but couldn't get the trigger finger thing to diminish. Gave up and went for the steroid injection, and it went away in about a week or ten days.
There are creams you can massage into your fingers that help with arthritis pain. Lidocaine will alleviate the pain for a little while. I use diclofenac at night on arthritis joints and it seems to help me sleep.
I have bad knees, and use Hempvana with 5% lidocane rub it in with bare hands so it helps hands as well. Tried Voltarin but it is greasy and did not work as well.
I also agree with gbisignani. I had the surgery and it fixed it on my left hand. I went to have the right hand done a few years ago and found out I have dupuytrens contracture starting and it’s in my ring finger. It is a lot worse than trigger finger and hurts in the palm of my hand. They told me I could have surgery but there were no guarantees that it wouldn’t come back and worse. I just try not to over use it Good luck with yours, as others have said it can be fixed.
If I've had a long day AND my hands are stiff and sore....well I reach for a cold brew and go pester my wife. Arthritis sucks.
There are days where my right hand thumb is hurting, broke it playing football 40 years ago and it still flares up. Gets irritated playing bluegrass and it I'm determined to play music, I can grab my clawhammer banjo and for whatever reason clawhammer doesn't aggravate that thumb. I know it doesn't make sense but it works.
For what it's worth, I had some inflammation issues that got quite bad just before Christmas, to the point where pretty much everything ached. I read about and got some boswellia and it made a huge difference. And quickly.
Like so many herbs on the market, there are plenty of companies selling the cheapest processed version they can, so if you're going to try it you should research the companies and types of plant they're selling before buying. Two producers I've found to be trustworthy are AOR and Certified Naturals.
