I went thru the same pain and anger as you. My Doctor had told me 4 months max! It took a solid couple of months just to get the pain to subside. He tried me on three different pain pills before he found one that worked. But there were side effects of severe headaches. To be specific, my surgery was on 21 Oct 1999 and I still don't have the hand back to normal. I do, however, use it to work around my place and most times I do not notice the stiffness. I use yard tools, even chain saws sometimes, etc. However, much of the day I cannot close the hand normally. When I use the flexion (stretch) glove, it brings the fingers in so I can touch the hand, but when the exercises are over, it begins stiffening up again.

Sorry to bring you bad news, but after discovering a South Florida Hand Clinic on-line, I found their stated official recovery time is 12 months! So, with that, I tried to re-direct my energies by doing daily exercises, logging the time spent on the exercises in a notebook to keep myself honest, and gripe silently!!

The bottom line: some of us heal differently than others. One person (on-line) stated he did not have to do any exercises as he healed very soon.

Hang in there!

I was back to normal as soon as the stitches came out, all 28 of them. I actually went back to work 3 days after my operation. I'm an architect that uses the PC a ton. No pain whatsoever at any time. In fact, my physical therapists were amazed at both my strength recovery and hyperextension so soon after surgery. I'm not claiming to be superman or anything, but I firmly believe that my doctor was the key to the surgery and recovery. I firmly believe that there are good and bad operations and I must be one of the lucky ones that had a good one.

I did follow my therapists direction to the letter though, in fact, went even further. Initially, they had me stretching every which way several times a day, then later added the hand strenghtener. Also, and I don't know how much this came into play, but they formed a rubber cast for that portion of my hand that I slept with every night. I needed to wrap a bandage around it to keep it in place. They said it was to keep the scaring down.

Hope this helps. Any other questions feel free to email me.

al

I read all your posts. I conclude we all heal differently. I do physical therapy twice a week, I wear the splint and that pink "think" sculpted to fit my scar, and I soak my hand about 4 times a week. I am in terrible pain and getting more and more depressed. My right hand is stiff most of the time, and now, when I work on the computer, which I must do, I have pain in the upper right shoulder. I'm not a pill taker but when the pain gets to be too much, like in the middle of the night, I take the pain killer. Have any of you tried acupuncture? Is this normal. This is 7 weeks after the operation. Am I too impatient? I am so angry at my doctor who I will see on Thursday. What should I ask him?

LILLY; 7 weeks is a very short time for recovery from this type of operation.The physical therapy is critical. Be relentless. For months after my operation I was still doing several hours of physical therapy a day. Being a pianist, I had to get my hand working again. Since flexibility and reach is so important for me, I had to try to reduce the scar tissue as much as possible. I found that massage with "Lanolin Hydrous" cream for an hour or two a day was a help. Also, using a mini-vibrator with the disc head attachment did wonders with the scar tissue. I would sit and watch TV while using it, again for an hour or more every day.
It's been 14 months now and the first thing I do every morning is to flex and bend my fingers. But it works. I gave my first recital since the operation a few months age and had no 'Dupuytren' problems. Don't give up yet!

Piece of cake, compared to other surgeries I've had.

Key is to never let go of therapy presribed by your therapist -- and I'm on my 3rd month of recovery.

If you got a splint that hurts your hand, contact your hand surgeon to get another splint by a therapist. What I mean by hurt is that the pain gets you out of bed in the middle of the night, with plots to kill your affected fingers.

If your hand surgeon recommends ultra sound treatment, take it!

If you lose range of motion, even though you are doing the exercises faithfully, contact your hand surgeon immediately. You need to see a physical therapist.

My hand surgeon is "amazed" as he says on my rapid recovery.I know it will take a full year to get the stiffness out of my hand when I do make a fist. Age is on my side in recovery, for I'm 39.

Good luck!
Annette