I have had DC in both hands for over 10 years. I am 55 now. Started when I was mid 40's, right hand first, but the RH has been very slow to contract (10 degrees now). Left had is about 25 degrees with pinkie and ring finger progressing at a moderate rate in the past 12 months. Also have Ledderhose growths in the palms of both feet, have been able to "live' with these by using Brooks walking shoes and professional orthodics (with a shallow valley groved in my orthotodis where the growths hit the orthodics. I have been monitoring this "forum" for over a year and have learned a great deal about DC and Ledderhose disease. I visited a CHS about 6 months ago, he indicated he knew nothing about NA, of course confirmed my own self diagnosis of DC and was ready to do hand surgery whenever I wanted to schedule it. I plan to show him my hand when I return from Dr Eaton so I can "educate" him. I hope the new treatments for Ledderhose that are being tried are successful with limited side effects, for now I will contine as is with my feet and get my hands treated with NA. I want to thank "all of the posters on this forum" for the information they have shared.
I plan to post the results of my NA in late Feb, so that I can return a small bit of informatin in return for all the data that I learned on this forum. "May the Lord bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you and bring you peace"

Another fake posting - it will ever end?

noel:

Apologies from anti social types don't come easy, so I'll apologize for him. You have to realize we've attracted some people who are not at all well.

The Viking connection appears to be real and this disease is genetic. However, I know an Afro American with DC who has very little white blood, so it's not limited to Viking ancestry.

Read this forum well. Do something about your hand. Traditional invasive surgery is not longer the only onion.

I'm a 70 year old femsle

For me DC started in my foot at approx age 50- northern european ancestry;
then had foot surgery and spread to my hand-
Had hand surgery on one finger of right hand not knowing about NA and this site and it spread to both hands.
Found Dr Eaton and this site and have had 3 NAs w/ Dr Eaton

Then had to have surgery on left hand involving 3 fingers.

Bad news- had surgery on 11/22 and still having hand therapy and still in pain today.
Will post when hand is back to normal... if that ever happens !
Warning to all
GO FOR NA for as long as you can.
Good luck and best wishes, Miriam

Hi Tolucca, though it really is only of historical interest "who's done it" and spread the Dupuytren disease, the latest research might indicate that we can't blame the Vikings. Here is the abstract:

J Hand Surg [Am]. 2002 May;27(3):385-90

On the origin and spread of Dupuytren's disease.

McFarlane RM.

The first author to suggest an origin and spread of Dupuytren's disease was Early who wrote in 1962, "If one postulates the condition as having arisen in one particular racial group (the Nordic for example) then the variable distribution in other parts of the world might be explained on the basis of migration from that group." Dupuytren's disease is currently called a Viking disease on the assumption that the disease was spread to Europe and the British Isles during the Viking Age of the 9th to the 13th centuries. From a literature search, it is proposed that Dupuytren's disease existed in Europe earlier than the Viking Age and originated much earlier in prehistory.
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Is still seems to hold true that people with Northern European ancestors are more likely to develop Dupuytren but the genetic defect might possibly also happen to other, not related people. That would explain why Dupuytren is also observed e. g. in Japan and China.

But at the end of the day, waht really counts is therapies ...

Wolfgang