Unless you’ve been diagnosed with dupuytren’s contracture, you’ve probably never heard of it before. It’s a condition that affects the tendons of the hands and causes them to contract (shorten and tighten). It’s also sometimes called trigger finger or Viking’s disease.
If you suffer from it, you will notice the tightened tendons that are affected because they become more visible in the palm of the hands. Also the nearest affected finger will curl inwards towards the palm and be difficult to straighten completely.
The most common form of medical treatment is surgery, but this should be assessed by your doctor or medical specialist.
On doing some research into the subject, I came across this recent study on acupuncture for trigger finger. The results were promising, however further, higher quality studies are recommended.
do we know what underlying cause of duyputrens is? wondering if emf contributing factor?
There’s no specific one cause, but there are things we know such as it’s more common in men, people of Scandinavian descent, or with a history of trauma to the hand region. In Chinese medicine terms we would encourage keeping the hands warm as cold can get into the channels and cause contracture. If it’s noticed in the very early stages it’s much easier to treat and can be completely resolved. Once it’s quite bad I do notice improvement with acupuncture but the extremely bad areas tend to not resolve fully, it’s just a matter of managing the condition.
I am not suffering from any disease but owing to a finger operating procedure gone wrong, my fingers have gone under contracture at PIP joint. Kindly suggest what kind of activity, exercise or therapy, medicine or herbs that I should undergo/take, to recover from the same.
Hi Kiara,
I can’t recommend personalised treatments for people who aren’t my patient (it’s not possible without a consultation to assess the situation), but I would imagine seeing a Physiotherapist may be of benefit to see if they can recommend exercises. An Acupuncturist (Doctor of Chinese Medicine) would also be able to assess the injury and see if acupuncture treatment would be beneficial. I imagine they would try some acupuncture and moxibustion of the area. If you’re not based near my clinics you can find a registered acupuncturist at http://www.acupuncture.org.au
Best of luck!
https://www.dupuytren-online.info/Forum_English/thread.php?board=0&thread=1428&page=1
Worth taking a look. I was checking for someone who has depuytrens & found this information. Lists all the herbs for tea. I am in Australia😀
Thanks for sharing. The reason I don’t have treatment specifics on this post is because I am bound by advertising rules for registered health practitioners here in Australia. If there isn’t a review of multiple randomised control trials within the last 5 years, I can’t actually comment on the effectiveness of acupuncture or Chinese herbs for that condition. Unfortunate, but that’s just advertising rules. When you see an acupuncturist for treatment they can still treat you according to your presentation.
Thanks!
Try bio oil warmed rub it in. Studys show magnesium also helps. I use bio oil and I drink mongolian kefir my finger is still flexible
Thanks for sharing your tips Bill! 🙂
Hello, a friend send me your link as she discovered that I have Dupuytren’s contracture of my little finger on my left hand. I am a climber and yoga teacher, and had thought the small nodule on my palm at the spleen and heart line was because of my broken heart (ex husband cheating and loss of house) And this could all be mixed and related, however, its only been in the last year to 18 months that the nodule has now turned down my little finger 45 degrees and made the fascia and tendon painful and affecting my balance and use of my hand in most things including climbing. I have been acupuncturing my hand, using castor oil (no changes) in hopes to break the adhesions. No success, pain when I needle into the tendon. I read that you use K3 and GB34 along with a tendon cream. It would be nice to know your plant mixture for the cream if you will share. Thank you Candace
Hi Candace. Sorry to hear about your struggles with Dupuytren’s contracture. It can be tricky to treat, but just remember to be consistent with treatment as that gives the best results. My herbal formula is Shen Jin Cao 12g, Mu Gua 10g, Sang Zhi 9g, Gui Zhi 6g, Xu Duan 6g, Mo Yao 6g. Keep in mind this is a topical formula that is added to a cream base. If you don’t have anywhere to get it made into a cream, you could possibly use raw herbs and mix that herbal liquid after cooking into a cream yourself, however I haven’t done this so not sure what type of cream it would mix best with.
Thank you. Presently am on San Juan Island, very challenged to access to anything. Try to get to Portland once a month and will collect the herbs. I work with a chinese herbalist there. I have been experimenting with herbs and adding to pecan oil base. The oil when heated by a hot water bottle and organic cloth may be more permeable. At this point trying…. Thank you for your recipe. Will send a note and let you know how things worked. Warmly, Candace
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’m an acupuncturist, but not an herbalist. Is this a custom formula you developed or a classic formula? I’m thinking of making some for a patient of mine, if I’m not able to buy it somewhere else. Any tips or other topical suggestions would be great! Thanks again!
Hi Teresa,
It’s a collection of herbs that have the effect of relaxing the sinews, because it is just a topical cream. Internal herbs would be based on the diagnosis which would be different for each patient. You won’t be able to find the cream pre-made, but some herbal companies can dispense it on prescription. It’s worthwhile noting that daily massage with any cream would still be beneficial because of manually breaking up the stagnation. Stretching and massage makes a big difference. Good luck!