7 Essential Devices For Hand Arthritis: Regain Control of Your Life

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Dr. Diana Girnita is a double board-certified physician in rheumatology and internal medicine. With a PhD in immunology (on top of her MD), and training at Harvard and top universities, she founded Rheumatologist OnCall, offering integrative medicine to broaden rheumatology access. Here’s what she has to say about things that make life easier:

Get your hands on these…

The seven devices that Dr. Girnita recommends are:

  • Hand grip strengthener: helps build grip strength with a spring-loaded mechanism. Regular use can improve strength and reduce pain.
  • Finger exerciser: different device; similar principle: it strengthens hand and finger muscles using resistance, enhancing hand function.
  • Moisturizing paraffin bath: a heated paraffin wax bath that soothes hands, providing heat therapy and moisturizing the skin.
  • Weighted silverware: weighted utensils (knives, forks, spoons) make gripping easier and provide stability for eating.
  • Foam tubing grips: foam covers to make kitchen tools, toothbrushes, and hairbrushes easier to grip.
  • Electric can-opener: reduces strain in opening cans, making meal preparation more accessible.
  • Compression gloves: provide gentle compression to reduce swelling and pain, improving hand flexibility and circulation.
  • Door knob cover grips: make it easier to turn doorknobs by providing a larger surface to grip.
  • Wider-grip pens: ergonomically designed pens with a larger diameter and softer grip reduce hand strain while writing.

This writer, who does not have arthritis but also does not have anything like the grip strength she used to, also recommends a jar opener like this one.

As a bonus, if you spend a lot of time writing at a computer, an ergonomic split keyboard like this one goes a long way to avoiding carpal tunnel syndrome, and logically must be better for arthritis than a regular keyboard; another excellent thing to have (that again this writer uses and swears by) is an ergonomic vertical mouse like this one (aligns the wrist bones correctly; the “normal” horizontal version is woeful for the carpal bones). These things are both also excellent to help avoid worsening peripheral neuropathy (something that troubles this writer’s wrists if she’s not careful, due to old injuries there).

For more on the seven things otherwise listed above, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

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  • Doctors From 15 Specialties Tell The Worst Common Mistakes People Make

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    Whatever your professional background, you probably know many things about it that are very obvious to you, but that most people don’t know. So it is for doctors too; here are the things that doctors from 15 specialties would never do, and thus advise people against doing:

    Better safe than sorry

    We’ll leap straight into it:

    1. General Surgery: avoid rushing into musculoskeletal or spinal surgery unless absolutely necessary; conservative treatments like physical therapy are often effective.
    2. Interventional Gastroenterology: avoid long-term, around-the-clock use of anti-inflammatory pain medications (e.g. Ibuprofen and friends) to prevent stomach ulcers.
    3. Podiatry: never place feet on the car dashboard due to the risk of severe injuries from airbag deployment.
    4. Rheumatology: avoid daily use of high heels to prevent joint and foot deformities, bunions, and pain.
    5. Otorhinolaryngology: never smoke, as it can lead to severe consequences like laryngectomy and other life-altering conditions.
    6. Pediatrics: avoid dangerous activities for children, such as swimming alone, eating choking hazards, biking or skiing without a helmet, or consuming raw meat/fish/dairy. Also, be cautious with firearms in homes.
    7. Orthopedic Surgery: avoid riding motorcycles and handling fireworks due to high risks of accidents.
    8. Emergency Medicine: never drink and drive or ride ATVs. Always use eye protection during activities like woodworking.
    9. Ophthalmology: always wear safety glasses during activities like grinding metal or woodworking. Sunglasses are essential to prevent UV damage even on cloudy days.
    10. Urology: avoid shaving pubic hair if diabetic or immunocompromised to prevent severe infections like Fournier’s gangrene.
    11. Gastroenterology: do not use gut health supplements as they lack proven efficacy and are often a waste of money*
    12. Plastic Surgery: avoid contour threads (barbed sutures for facial rejuvenation) and butt implants due to risks like infection, complications, and poor outcomes.
    13. Psychiatry: never take recreational drugs from unknown sources to avoid accidental overdoses, especially from substances laced with fentanyl. Carry Narcan for emergencies.
    14. Dermatology: use sunscreen daily to prevent skin cancer, aging, pigmentation issues, and texture problems caused by UV exposure.
    15. Cardiology: avoid the carnivore diet as it increases heart disease risks due to its negligible fiber content and high saturated fat intake.

    *We had an article about this a while back; part of the problem is that taking probiotics without prebiotics can mean your new bacteria just die in about 20 minutes, which is their approximate lifespan in which to multiply or else die out. Similar problems arise if taking them with sugar that feeds their competitors instead. See: Stop Sabotaging Your Gut!

    For more on each of these, in the words of the respective doctors, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Health Hacks from 20 Doctors

    Take care!

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  • The Path To Revenue – by Theresa Marcroft

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    So many books about start-ups skip right over the elephant in the room: survivorship bias. Not so for Marcroft! This book contains the most comprehensive and unapologetic treatment of it we’ve seen.

    Less “here’s what Steve Jobs did right and here’s what Chocolate-Teapots-For-Dogs-R-Us did wrong; don’t mess up that badly and you’ll be fine”… and more realism. Marcroft gives us a many-angled critical analytic approach. In it, she examines why many things can seem similar in both content and presentation… but can cause growth or failure (and how and why), based on more than anecdotes and luck.

    The book is information-dense (taking a marketing-centric approach) and/but well-presented in a very readable format.

    If we can find any criticism of the book, it’s less about what’s in it and more about what’s not in it. This can never be a “your start-up bible!” book because it’s not comprehensive. It doesn’t cover assembling your team, for example. Nor does it give a lot of attention to management, preferring to focus on strategy.

    But no single book can be all things, and we highly recommend this one—the marketing advice alone is more than worth the cost of the book!

    Take Your First Step Along The Path To Revenue By Checking It Out On Amazon!

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  • The Toe-Tapping Tip For Better Balance

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    Balance is critical for health especially in older age, since it’s amazing how much else can go dramatically and suddenly wrong after a fall. So, here’s an exercise to give great balance and stability:

    How to do it

    You will need:

    • Something to hold onto, such as a countertop
    • A target on the floor, such as a mark or a coin

    The steps:

    • Lift one leg up, bring your foot forward, and tap the object in front of you.
    • Then, bring that foot back to where it started.
    • Next, switch to the other leg and tap.
    • Alternate between your right and left legs, shifting back and forth.
    • Your goal is to do this for 10 repetitions on each leg without holding on.

    How it works:

    Whenever you tap, you have to lift one leg up and reach it out in front of you. Doing this requires you to stand on one leg while moving a weight (namely: your other leg), which is something many people, especially upon getting older, are hesitant to do. If you’re unable to stand on one leg, let alone move your center of gravity (per the counterbalance of the other leg) while doing so, you may end up shuffling and walking with your feet sliding across the ground—something you really want to avoid.

    For more on all of this plus a visual demonstration, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Fall Special ← this is about not falling, or, failing that, minimizing injury if you do

    Take care!

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  • General Tso’s Chickpeas

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    A fiber-rich, heart-healthy take on a classic:

    You will need

    • 1 can chickpeas, drained
    • ¾ cup vegetable stock; ideally you made this yourself from vegetable cuttings that you kept in the freezer for this purpose, but failing that, you should be able to get low-sodium stock cubes at your local supermarket.
    • ¼ cup arrowroot starch (cornstarch will do at a pinch, but arrowroot is better and has no flavor of its own)
    • 3 tbsp coconut oil
    • 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
    • ¼ bulb garlic, minced
    • 2 tbsp honey (or maple syrup if you prefer, and if you don’t like sweetness, reduce this to 1 tbsp or even omit entirely, though it won’t be quite so “General Tso” if you do, but it’s your meal!)
    • 2 tbsp tomato paste
    • 2 tsp hot sauce
    • 1 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 3 green onions, sliced

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Coat the chickpeas in the arrowroot starch by tossing them together in a bowl

    2) Heat the coconut oil in a skillet on a medium-high heat, and when hot, add the chickpeas, stirring for 3 minutes

    3) Add the remaining ingredients in the order we gave (except the vegetable stock, which goes in last), stirring for 5 more minutes, or until the sauce thickens

    4) Serve with the carb of your choice; we recommend our Tasty Versatile Rice Recipe

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Lifestyle vs Multiple Sclerosis & More

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This is Dr. Saray Stancic. She’s another from the ranks of “doctors who got a serious illness and it completely changed how they view the treatment of serious illness”.

    In her case, Stancic was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and wasn’t impressed with the results from the treatments offered, so (after 8 years of pain, suffering, and many medications, only for her condition to worsen) she set about doing better with an evidence-based lifestyle medicine approach.

    After 7 years of her new approach, she would go on to successfully run a marathon and live symptom-free.

    All this to say: her approach isn’t a magic quick fix, but it is a serious method for serious results, and after all, while it’d be nice to be magically in perfect health tomorrow, what’s important is being in good health for life, right?

    If you’re interested in her impressive story, check out:

    Doctor With Multiple Sclerosis On The Collapse Of US Healthcare

    If you want to know what she did, then read on…

    Six key lifestyle changes

    Dr. Stancic credits her recovery to focus on the following evidence-based approaches:

    The plant-centered plate

    This is critical, and is the one she places most emphasis on. Most chronic diseases are exacerbated, if not outright caused, by chronic inflammation, and one cannot fix that without an anti-inflammatory diet.

    An anti-inflammatory diet doesn’t have to be 100% plant-based, but broadly speaking, plants are almost always anti-inflammatory to a greater or lesser degree, while animal products are often pro-inflammatory—especially red meat and unfermented dairy.

    For more details, see:

    Anti-Inflammatory Diet 101 (What to Eat to Fight Inflammation)

    Movement every day

    While “exercise is good for you” is in principle not a shocker, remember that her starting point was being in terrible condition with badly flared-up MS.

    Important to understand here is that excessive exercise can weaken the immune system and sometimes cause flare-ups of various chronic diseases.

    Moving thoroughly and moving often, however, is best. So walking yes, absolutely, but also don’t neglect the rest of your body, do some gentle bodyweight squats (if you can; if you can’t, work up to them), stretch your arms as well as your legs, take all your joints through a full range of motion.

    See also:

    The Doctor Who Wants Us To Exercise Less, & Move More

    Mindful stress management

    Stress in life is unavoidable, but how we manage it is up to us. Bad things will continue to happen, great and small, but we can take a deep breath, remember that those things aren’t the boss of us, and deal with it calmly and conscientiously.

    Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is of course the evidence-based “gold standard” for this, but whatever (not substance-based) method works for you, works for you!

    About MBSR:

    No-Frills, Evidence-Based Mindfulness

    Good sleeping habits

    Getting good sleep can be hard for anyone, let alone if you have chronic pain. However, Dr. Stancic advocates for doing whatever we can to get good sleep—which means not just duration (the famous “7–9 hours”), but also quality.

    Learn more:

    The 6 Dimensions Of Sleep (And Why They Matter)

    Substance intake awareness

    This one’s not so much of a “don’t do drugs, kids” as the heading makes it look. Dr. Stancic assumes we already know, for example, that smoking is bad for us in a long list of ways, and alcohol isn’t much better.

    However, she also advises us that in our eagerness to do that plant-based diet, we would do better to go for whole foods plant-based, rather than the latest processed meat substitutes, for example.

    And supplements? She bids us exercise caution, and to make sure to get good quality, as poor quality supplements can be worse than taking nothing (looking at you, cheap turmeric supplements that contain heavy metals).

    And of course, that nutrients gained from diet will almost always be better than nutrients gained from supplements, as our body can usually use them better.

    And see also, some commonly-made supplements mistakes:

    Do You Know Which Supplements You Shouldn’t Take Together? (10 Pairs!)

    Human connection

    Lastly, we humans are a social species by evolution; as individuals, we may enjoy relatively more or less social contact, but having access to such is important not just for our mental health, but our physical health too—we will tend to deteriorate much more quickly when we have to deal with everything alone, all other things being equal.

    It doesn’t mean you need a busy social life if that’s not in your nature, but it does mean it’s incredibly beneficial to have at least a small number of people that you trust and whose company you enjoy, at least relatively accessible to you (i.e., their life need not revolve around you, but they are the kind of people who will generally happily spend time with you and provide support when needed if they can).

    As for how:

    How To Beat Loneliness & Isolation

    Want to know more from Dr. Stancic?

    We recently reviewed this very good book of hers, which goes over each of these six things in much more detail than we have room for here:

    What’s Missing from Medicine – by Dr. Saray Stancic

    Enjoy!

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  • Brazil Nuts vs Cashews – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing Brazil nuts to cashews, we picked the cashews.

    Why?

    Looking at the macros first, Brazil nuts have more fat and fiber, while cashews have more carbs and protein. So, it really comes down to what you want to prioritize. We’d generally consider fiber the tie-breaker, making this category a subjective marginal win for Brazil nuts—and especially marginal since they are both low glycemic index foods in any case.

    When it comes to vitamins, Brazil nuts have more of vitamins C, E, and choline, while cashews have more of vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, and K, so while both are great, this category is a clear by-the-numbers win for cashews.

    The category of minerals is an interesting one. Brazil nuts have more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and selenium, while cashews have more copper, iron, manganese, and zinc. That would be a 4:4 tie, but let’s take a closer look at those selenium levels:

    • A cup of cashews contains 109% of the RDA of selenium. Your hair will be luscious and shiny.
    • A cup of Brazil nuts contains 10,456% of the RDA of selenium. This is way past the point of selenium toxicity, and your (luscious, shiny) hair will fall out.

    For this reason, it’s recommended to eat no more than 3–4 Brazil nuts per day.

    We consider that a point against Brazil nuts.

    Adding up the section makes for a win for cashews. Of course, enjoy Brazil nuts too if you will, but in careful moderation please!

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Why You Should Diversify Your Nuts

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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