I didn't have any contracture until at least seven years after diagnosis, my successful "self-treatment" until then consisting of doing nothing, which I resumed after successful NA at age 52. But if it doesn't hurt you and it makes you feel better, and there is even only a slight chance that it could actually have a positive impact on the evolution of the desease, why not. I wish you to succeed in keeping the contracture away for the longest time!

Interesting discussion. Some surgeons in the UK apparently used to offer advice to DD patients to sit on their hands whenever possible, since people with LD rarely get contracture of the toes. But this is just another anecdote in the mix. The lack of evidence of the benefits of splinting run slightly against this.

I believe there is some evidence that the cord is a reaction to pulling on the initial nodule. If the joint becomes stiff (by accident or by surgery) and thus the pulling is stopped, the cord typically regresses and vanishes. This supports the concept that pulling is counterproductive to Dupuytren's contracture.

But it is also well known that the body adapts to constant force. A patient once said to me "if some tribes succeed in Africa in streching the neck to twice ist original length why shouldn't I be able to get my finger straight?". I am pretty sure if you consistently pull on a bent finger to make it straight, eventually the finger will yield and become straight. The question is how long you need to pull and how long the finger will remain straight after you stopped pulling. It might contract quickly.

If you sit on your hand all day, the finger will probably be less contracted in the evening than in the morning. During the night it will re-contract and in the morning you need to sit on it again. But sitting on the hand all day makes your hand pretty useless ... I myself had a similar experience with my night splint: in the morning the finger was less contracted than in the evening. During the day it re-contracted to ist original position. Then, over night, it became a little more straight again.

Ideally you would sit on your hand during the day and wear a night splint to maintain the gain. It might work. But I would hate doing it ...

Wolfgang

Same finger and same joint as mine. I had Xiaflex injected and with the nightsplint was able to maintain the gain for over a year. When I stopped wearing it, the finger contracted with 1/2 year to the positions as before the injection. But that doesn't mean that this applies to you. too. You had surgery, a completely different game. Unfortunately, irrespective of treatment, the PIP joint of the little finger seems to be the most difficult one to treat and recurrence is likely.

Wolfgang

MizLiz:

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This is the situation I'm in too. 2 months post surgery for a large nodule on PIP joint of RH little finger and a cord in my palm. I wear a night splint and the finger is pretty straight in the morning, although never 100% - there's always a bit of a bend in it, probably from the nodule pulling it down for so long. As the day goes on, though it contracts again, sometimes almost as badly as before surgery. When that happens, I throw the splint back on for a bit, but it's kind of discouraging. Am I just being impatient, or is this as good as it's likely to get?