As y’all may recall, I’ve been diagnosed with arthritis in my left thumb. I had originally been concerned as I was in some pain and there wasn’t going to be a lot that anyone could do about it. The surgery didn’t sound like fun either. The doctor was very honest about the amount of pain that I’d be in, for about a year’s worth of time.
Ugh.
The good news, though, is that he prescribed a very specific brace for my thumb.
https://amzn.to/3t7w34G
Now, I’d been wearing braces before this. I had a couple of different ones. They made some difference, but not a lot.
This brace has made all the difference in the world. It’s specifically designed for the condition that I have. The part that wraps around the base of my thumb supports the joint that has arthritis.
As a result, after wearing it for a few days, I was suddenly in a LOT less pain.
I don’t need to wear it all the time. The doctor said I really only had to wear it when I was using my hand. Which I do a lot, so I’ve been wearing it most of the time.
Wow. I’m rarely in pain now. Or rather, my pain levels have decreased to the point that I don’t notice my thumb most of the time. If I press on the joint, yeah, I can still feel it. But it’s a really low level of pain, maybe a half a point on a scale of one to ten, as opposed to accidently pressing on it and it bringing sudden tears to my eyes.
If any of y’all are considering getting this brace, a couple of things I’d say about it.
One, it runs small. I have a medium size, and I insisted on trying the larger size at the doctor’s office because I wasn’t sure the medium size would actually work. The large was too big, there was too much material between the thumb and the rest of my hand, and it was bunching up. But the medium was stretched tight at first.
Luckily, the material does eventually stretch some. It’s a lot more comfortable now that I’ve been wearing it for a while. So if you get one and it feels too tight, don’t despair. It will stretch.
The other thing is that the velcro pieces are squared off. I’ve taken a scissors and rounded off those edges, so they no longer dig into my skin.
I honestly did not expect a brace to make that much difference. This isn’t just any brace, though. This is the right brace. And it really has helped.
Next week, I’ll make an appointment with the hand therapist. And we’ll see where I go from there.