New technique helps alleviate arthritis pain

Sip your morning coffee. Button your shirt. Check your e-mail. Imagine doing those everyday things without using your thumbs. That’s what many Americans with arthritis experience. Now, surgeons are using a new technique to help patients regain their mobility.

Like many, Gregg Frederick, 57, took his hands for granted until osteoarthritis made it impossible to pinch his fingers together.

“You just don’t realize. A simple thing like buttoning a shirt. It’s very hard to do some of those things, especially your sleeves, with one hand,” Frederick said. Osteoarthritis of the thumb is one of the most common forms of arthritis. Over a lifetime, the small joint on the bottom of the hand becomes stressed from pinching and grasping.

“The forces that this joint sees can be 20 to 40 pounds per square inch,” Dr. A. Lee Osterman said.
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