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

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:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

• Avoiding/Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Avoiding/Managing Osteoarthritis
• Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically!)

Take care!