Posted on July 10, 2009 in Latest News
Basal joint arthritis is known as thumb arthritis or thumb CMC (Carpometacarpel) joint. This joint receives maximum stress especially in pinching movements.
Arthritis in basal joints can be of many types like, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and traumatic arthritis. Traumatic arthritis is caused due to injury of joint, osteoarthritis is a degenerative arthritis, whereas rheumatoid is an autoimmune disease.
The treatment of the above mentioned arthritis is generally done with the help of splints. Splints are used to give support and protection to the basal bones and help in their smooth functioning. Another treatment is suspension plasty. It is a type of surgery where basal bone is removed. Ligament repair and tendon transfer are main features of this surgery.
Basal Joint Arthritis Splints:
The initial management of arthritis is considered as splinting. The goal of splinting the patients of arthritis includes:
- To reduce the pain and inflammation of the involved joints.
- To rest and support the weakened structure.
- To position the involved joints closely, in order to properly align them.
- To provide external support, in order to improve the proper functioning of hand.
- The main aim of splinting is to position healing structures properly.
Suspensionplasty Basal Joint Arthritis:
Suspensionplasty is the use of abductor pollicis longus (APL) tendon as sling. First, the bone at the base of thumb (trapezium) is removed. Then the APL is taken from its attachments to the carpometacarpel (CMC) and threaded to the two tunnels. One tunnel goes through the bone of the index figure. While the other goes through the thumb.
The APL is stitched to another tendon to hold in its place. The overall effect is to stop the deforming force of the APL on the CMC joint. The grip and key – pinch strength is measured before and after surgery. The range of motions and pain levels were also recorded; x-rays were also taken both before and after the process of Suspensionplasty.
The conclusion that was drawn after all the above recordings was that most of the patients were pain free after the surgery. Pinching and gripping activities became easier for most of them.
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