After experiencing sudden pain in my left thumb base joint i saw my local surgery and was referred for an x-ray, it turns out i have something called basal thumb arthritis, which doesn't really affect my day to day life but does have an impact on me riding my bikes, perversely i find riding my Kwak z1000sx more painful than riding my 916, the bars on the Z are straight horizontal whereas as we all know the bars on a 916 are more downward angled, strangely these do not exert as much pressure on the area in question as the Z ,which after about 20 minutes is quite excruciating. I have been prescribed Ibuprofen gel and am wearing a thumb support, i was advised that if after 3 weeks there is no improvement i will have the option of a Cortisone Steroid injection into the joint, has anyone else had experience of this and if so has it made any difference? TIA.
commiserations on this, i can't help with this specifically, but it does appear that "stuff" just starts to go wrong randomly in later life (i'm 69). I suddenly suffered from something like arthritis in my 2nd toe proximal phalanx, only brought on/made worse by motorbike gearbox upchanges. It sounds petty but it stops me from walking when acute. I consciously angle my foot now to make sure that it's the big toe that bears the brunt of the gearlever arm effort required.
Not directly this, but I did have a Cortisone injection for a bout of tennis elbow that wouldn’t clear up some years ago. I was warned by my GP that the injection would be bloody painful, and as usual he was right, but it cleared it up and I haven’t suffered with it since. Good luck with it.
I'd give the injection a go. If it works, you'll experience great relief for a (variable amount of) time. if you're still in big pain after that you may get offered what I had... I suffered from bone-on-bone action in my RH basal joint for a few years (=24/7 pain) due to an old injury + arthritis. Solution was to have the trapezium bone removed and the joint replaced with some of my tendons in a fancy knot!
I have my fare share of wear and tear related aches and pains but not this particular one so I’ve nothing to offer but sympathy. Getting old isn’t a huge amount of fun but, from my perspective, it’s a lot better than the only alternative I’m aware of.
yes I’ve got the same. Didn’t realise how progressively bad my thumb joints had become until I took the steroid injection ( which by the way is one hell of a painful injection ) . It felt like I had brand new thumbs ! No pain , normal movement ,wasn’t dropping things , brilliant. Then after about 6 weeks it wore off and was back to my previous dilapidated self. Took the excruciating injections again which wore off after less than 2 weeks this time , so that was me. Not worth bothering again. I just live with the pain and inconvenience unfortunately. Best of luck with whatever you decide.
Thanks for the replies...Mine only really causes pain when riding my bikes, so i will probably go for the injection when its available and grin and bear it (the jab). People told me in the past that once you reach a certain age all the aches and pains start appearing, and its true, i'm now 63 but up to now none of them have interfered with me riding my bikes, i'll keep my fingers crossed that the injection works and lasts longer than a few weeks!, if not then i'll need to give some serious thought to swapping my bikes for an exciting car to replace the buzz...
I had the same sort of problem, which really affected me on track. Didn't bother with any injections and went to the surgery route (trapeziectomy..?) I have no pain in that hand a little less motion in my thumb and an interesting dent at its base as nothing was replaced. Hard braking is now no problem. Left hand is going the same way but doesn't affect riding a bike which is all I'm bothered about. Recovery after removing the splint was about a month to get my grip back
Cortizone injections are never a long term fix. Usually all they do is kill the pain receptors in a localized area for a defined period of time, to allow you to move the joint naturally. The downside to this is you won't know if you are doing even more damage, as your body's alarm system has effectively been neutralized plus they won't resolve any inflammation (which is no bad thing, as it's all that's naturally left in your armoury, to protect the affected area). I had an epidural injection into my spine to try an alleviate the pain from a cervical disc prolapse, that was crushing the brachial nerve to my right arm and causing severe referred pain. Worked for a few days then nothing. Ended up having a cervical disctectomy, the first of three spinal operations in fact, to replace 3 buggered discs. My neck is now around 25% plastic, but I am finally pain free, having also fully recovered from open heart surgery last year. Save for a recent flare up of tennis elbow which I am having physio for, I count myself lucky that at 59, I'm in what I would consider, good health. Keeping your joints active is obviously difficult if you are in pain but it is key to preventing problems in later life. Unfortunately lifestyles have become more sedentary in recent years, which is evident from the increase in obesity, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, heart, lung and liver related problems, one of the reasons why I changed my habits some years ago, to stave off issues further down the road. Would not have prevented me from the surgery I underwent, but I try to remain as active as I possibly can.
I Agree that keeping active is a positive thing when getting older, although not always practical when we are working, i used to work shifts including nights and by the time the weekend arrived i was usually bolloxed so didn't really get the chance or inclination for exercise. I retired early (at 59) a few years ago and since then the wife and i try and brisk walk between 4>5 miles most days of the week, and i can honestly say that i feel much healthier than i did when working, and it keeps my joints in reasonable condition, apart from my thumb joints!...i've been riding bikes since i was 16 and in all weathers when younger when it was my only form of transport. I suppose i'm lucky to have gotten away with just the thumb problems up to now, i must admit that the thought of not being able to ride without pain is bothering me more than i thought it would.
@yellowducmaniac ...have you tried "Crampbusters"? They aren't targeted at your particular condition but are designed for you to hold the grips in a more relaxed manner, so you are not clenching them, which might alleviate some of your pain.
A mate of mine was the anaesthetist for by trapeziectomy & new joint. He took a mid-op photo which was a nice surprise for me - it shows the knitted tendon (stripped from a finger tendon in my arm!) which forms my current basal thumb joint. A lot of people I've shown it to have run away feeling sick, so I'll only post it here if there's interest...
Ok... A hole was drilled in the thumb bone for the tendon strip to pass through. You can see knot of tendon that forms the new 'natural' basal joint. It's fully functional with only minor limitations. Cost me £5000 about 7 years ago 'cos there was an indefinite NHS wait as it wasn't life threatening, etc. A month after the op, I got a NHS surgery cancellation call...
