There is a lot of good info on this forum. Keep reading and studying DD. Visit Dr. Eaton's website. It is also very informative. Good Luck to you.

Who knows? I'm a 61 year-old Jewish guy with Dupuytren's. Perhaps there is a Viking in my geneology, but I doubt it.

Steve

Actually, the 'Viking Theory' for Dup's origins was originally just a speculation thrown out by some doctor, but it's come to be accepted almost as a truism. But there was Dup's in Europe long before there were Vikings. A more plausible case can be made for the 'Celtic Theory', but the Celts were really just a language group, not a people with a common ancestry. It's not even completely sure that NW Europeans get it more than Eastern Europeans. One study seemed to show that Bosnian Christians (but, interestingly enough, not the Muslims) have about the same rate of occurence as NW Europeans.

But Miriam is right, these points are interesting rather than important. - MML

Andrew,
My hands have totally stabilized or improved along with my feet. I attribute this to changing the stress level of both hands and feet. For hands I make sure of using gloves when necessary for working, recreation etc. to relieve point stress on affected areas. For feet it is all about shoes and not being barefoot. And then again, it just might be a Dupuytren's dormant period. Since the surgery (3 1/2 years ago) on my hand, I have had no increase in Dupuytren's activity. The nodules have decreased in the other hand, but I attribute that to less strenuous activity.

Let's face it folks, the Vikings were Everywhere...all over the world. Does not matter what or where your background is, they were there in that country at some point.
The only reason we can't account for ancestry with the disease is, that they did not know, and they might have had it and did not know.
I have had two people in my family now, saying " Oh, maybe that is what it was with Uncle Bob " Or Grampa Joe...They just did not know what it was and did not know. I guarantee, someone, in your family has it or had it. This just does not come out of nowhere, it is, inherited. Maybe it is generations back, but , that is where it came from. You just got the gene ! And, it is a Gene. It may be so far back in the family , that you can't account for it. And, just have some kind of trauma to your hand, and it will show up in a flash.
They say, that is what the original Pope's wave is about. with the curled finger.
Patty