Finger Fusion Surgery for Arthritis? (fracture, pain, doctor, recovery)

[mimimomx3]

Has anyone had any experience with this procedure? Three fingers on my mom's right hand are very painful and her doctor has reccomended finger fusion surgery. What is recovery like? Does it work? Is it painful??
Thanks!

[bluedevilz]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

Has anyone had any experience with this procedure? Three fingers on my mom's right hand are very painful and her doctor has reccomended finger fusion surgery. What is recovery like? Does it work? Is it painful??
Thanks!

I have a lot of experience seeing patients through this surgery...

It is uncomfortable immediately post op but the pain is manageable. Depending on the fixation method, if the joints are "pinned" the pins or wires will usually remain in place for 6 weeks or so and then be removed, typically in the office. Sometimes the joint is plated and the hardware does not need to be removed. Its basically like healing a fracture and the fingers will be splinted throughout the healing phase while the bones fuse.

The surgery is very effective at relieving the pain of arthritis, the joint no longer moves, so there is no bone on bone friction.

The downside is, the joints fused no longer move and that does impair function.

Its a trade off. Your mother will almost certainly have less pain in her hands but she will have to relearn to do somethings with joints that don't move.

In reality though, patients that come to finger fusion are usually already pretty limited in what they can do with their hands secondary to pain anyhow.

Good luck to your mother.

[mimimomx3]

Originally Posted by bluedevilz

I have a lot of experience seeing patients through this surgery...

It is uncomfortable immediately post op but the pain is manageable. Depending on the fixation method, if the joints are "pinned" the pins or wires will usually remain in place for 6 weeks or so and then be removed, typically in the office. Sometimes the joint is plated and the hardware does not need to be removed. Its basically like healing a fracture and the fingers will be splinted throughout the healing phase while the bones fuse.

The surgery is very effective at relieving the pain of arthritis, the joint no longer moves, so there is no bone on bone friction.

The downside is, the joints fused no longer move and that does impair function.

Its a trade off. Your mother will almost certainly have less pain in her hands but she will have to relearn to do somethings with joints that don't move.

In reality though, patients that come to finger fusion are usually already pretty limited in what they can do with their hands secondary to pain anyhow.

Good luck to your mother.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my post. She is most concerned with the limitations in the immediate post op period- she lives alone and is worried about showering, driving and cooking. I've suggested acupuncture as an alternative to try before surgery.

Thanks again!