I have the agressive form of the dis-ease. It had rendered me almost immobile attacking my feet first at the age of 18. I had balooned up to 427lbs because It was so painful to walk on the nodules. After I had gone thru several Drs I found one who finally helped me help myself by giving me some type of pain relief, although I still had to grit my teeth and double up my fists-(which BTW I can hardly do now)I am down to 285lbs, I have a Bowflex and I work hard on it even though it causes me alot of pain due to the nodules on the knuckles and in the hands. I have read more than once that you can go your whole Life and show no symptoms of this disease, you can have one or 2 that dont cause you really any grief, or you can have it like I do-full blown. It is my understanding that an impact to an extremity can aggravate and stimulate growth. I have instructed my ex-wife to keep my Son away from sports and other physical activities. I have been suggested to by Drs that amputation of my right foot should be done, due to the reoccurring nature of this disease and the multiple surgerys I have had. I would suggest to you to sell your rowing machine, and find you a swimming pool- low impact to the joints and the extremities. I am looking at losing my feet so i figured if I have great upper body strength it will help me out down the road. Good luck to you.

Troy,

I am very sorry to hear the extent of your condition. Many of us here firmly believe that trauma can trigger and/or irritate the disease. And certainly someone in your position meeds to take that more seriously than others. I have returned to lap swimming as my main form of exercise. If you have the swimming ability to get a good workout, you *can't* loose. Banishing you son to no sports or physical activities is a quite a curse in itself. Perhaps he'll take to the water and become an avid swimmer.

Jim, Troy:

It's probably *is* on an individual basis, but I'm 100% *positive* my disease was triggered by abuse I put my hands through pretending a was a conga player rather than a drummer. My fingers would literally be *bleeding* after a session due to the vibration of my fingernails against the other fingers. My hands would ache for hours afterward. I did wonder if I could damage my hands somehow. Little did I know.

The Dups showed up within months. Had I had "normal" hand cellular chemistry, nothing would have happened. At the very least, Troy's son needs to be aware of the real danger he faces.