mobaygirl; Part of the problem could be that you are seeing a surgeon and they seem to like to cut things up.

I live in Australia and had conventional surgery on my left hand 15 years ago. When my right started to have problems I asked my hand surgeon about alternative treatments and he told me that surgery was the only option and it made sense to leave it as long as possible.

When I found out about NA I confronted the surgeon and he said that their association had discussed NA and decided it was not safe. He was unapologetic and gave me a lecture about the risks of nerve damage from NA and said that if I went ahead and got NA done overseas he would be there to repair the damage.

There are now a few surgeons doing NA in Australia but they are vary cautious and seem to have all sorts of situations where they think NA is not suitable or needs to develop further. That is the reason that I go France to get NA done.

This is considerable misinformation that is being spread. There is not a textbook/medical school in the world that suggests "waiting until you have full contracture probably makes sense only if full surgery is the only treatment being considered". It doesn't ever make sense unless a person just doesn't want to have any treatment.

Optimum time for surgery is generally considered to be 30-50 degrees.

Edited 10/23/12 01:42

Callie, I am NOT spreading misinformation, I'm telling it the way it has been, in my case. This particular stream talks about "personal experience," and this is what I have been sharing. I do not mean to suggest that people wait until the contraction is really bad----what I am relaying is what MY doctors have suggested. The fact that I have made the choice to seek another type of treatment (NA) would not have happened had it not have been for this forum.

This is misinformation. The "standard of treatment is to wait until it is a stage 3 or 4 before any real intervention". That is simply a false/misleading statement, especially for anyone new to the disease.

Mobaygirl said, "I am amazed that with ALL the advancements in medicine that there is a medical condition that the standard of treatment is to wait until it is a stage 3 or 4 before any real intervention".

callie:

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This is misinformation. The "standard of treatment is to wait until it is a stage 3 or 4 before any real intervention". That is simply a false/misleading statement, especially for anyone new to the disease.

Mobaygirl said, "I am amazed that with ALL the advancements in medicine that there is a medical condition that the standard of treatment is to wait until it is a stage 3 or 4 before any real intervention".