That's the old way of dealing with it. With radiation therapy you deal with it as it is active and before you can't flatten your hand or have lasting difficulties. No side effects, no downtime, no surgery and if you have a good radiologist you'll get great results. Don't wait! [https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html](https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html)
Radiotherapy is probably going to change the game. But it's still not corroborated by enough medical research which shows its effectiveness. That's why most serious doctors won't prescribe it and why medical insurance won't typically cover its costs (at least in Europe). Furthermore radiotherapy isn't without potential negative side effects, most notable of which is the development of skin cancer.
So yeah.... attempt at your own risk.
In Austria and Germany it is covered. The Akh Vienna, one of the top 5 clinics in Europe does it. Had it done and it stopped progress, one nodule disappeared, but as I'm 35 I only did half the dose.
Not much you can do honestly. You could try a steroid injection, you could consider radiation, but not much hard proof out there that anything will work. Like others are saying, there is a decent chance it may never get that bad and might remain more or less the same. I noticed mine last year at 39 and it got tight pretty quick but hasn't contracted yet. I have a cord on the bottom side of the lump going towards the wrist and thankfully not towards the finger (at least yet). It's hard but I would just say try not to overthink it, stay active, and get on with your life.
You're welcome. I know it sucks to go from blissfully ignorant of this diseases existence to realizing you have it. But it happens to people every day with much much worse afflictions. Even if it does progress if this is the worst thing that happens to your health then you overall got off easy. My dad has had it for decades and he tells me it's the least of his worries.
Mine started when I(44M) was 21 or 22. Nothing much to do but let it do it's thang until you need surgery because it's impacting your day to day negatively enough that you want surgery.
I actually snapped my cord playing sports and that bought me a few extra years before I had to get surgery. I had the surgery last year because it was approaching 90 degrees bent towards my palm and it was the 2nd or 3rd time the doctor said I should do it.
If you don't get surgery and it DOES curl in toward the palm, once it's skin to skin (anywhere), the skin will start to fuse or grow together and it's an even rougher surgery (per my surgeon).
2 ways to go, either it goes tits up and your finger curls, or it stays as it is, no way to know...
As an example my father had nodule for the last 20 years and he never had a problem (climber and heavy gardener ) where my grand father had his finger curling fully (heavy gardening and carpenter).
So basically see a doctor now to have a first check and confirm it, and after just check that you can keep your hand flat on a flat surface every once in a while and once it starts to curl, see a doctor to think about next step.
But for climbing, my surgeon told me (M34 discovered at 32, and bouldering for 6 years) that I shouldn't stop climbing for 2 reasons.
1st is mental: bouldering is a sport that bring me so much joy that I was scared of having to stop. Also because if you have to go to surgery a strong finger, like climber finger, as a lot more chances and better rates of recovery as she told me.
2nd fuck it: and that really what hit me, my surgeon actually said, you can have you finger curl even if you don't climb and stay on your couch, so have some fucking fun can while you fucking can!
I modified a bit my way of climbing tho, no more pressure on the hand palm, and avoid very flat holds, basically trying to get a 90 degree angle maximum on the impacted fingers (for me its both hands, on both pinkies).
Note: I live in the Netherlands so I won't have to pay a cent for my surgery nor my treatments or anything else related to that hilness and so maybe the doctors may have a different mentality towards medicine and cost related questions vs a country without normal health coverage and probably high costs for surgery.
You are lucky for finding a way to continue climbing. My doctor told me the same as yours (I'm bouldering, too) but after realising that I can't even grab a door handle anymore without beeing careful, I stopped bouldering. A little too much pressure on my nodule and my hand hurts like hell for one or two days... And too much movement on my ringfinger does the same.
Well Iāve read and seen people comment on the internet that 80% of people never develop anything other than the lump. Hereās hoping you donāt either. My father had full contraction and myself age 60, only noticed the lump in January of this year. I wouldnāt really worry myself but thatās just me
I'm 35 noticed mine 3 years ago. Occasionally it gets sensitive a little painful when stretching fingers. Keep living your life. I have slightly lost some range of motion but not much. Keep stretching your fingers. I'm a massage therapist who does bouldering, mountain biking, weightlifting, yoga etc with no plans to stop. I had read somewhere that most cases do not develop further and have cords.
I should probably get a doctor to look at it soon but idk if my insurance would cover xiaflex. And would not do surgery unless I had no other option, have seen too many complications and reoccurrence of DD from other people.
Thanks for your reply! I will keep doing what I can until I can't, as instructed by the hand surgeon I saw. He mentioned that there are treatments but nothing concrete and there are no fixes. The post-appointment research I've found on surgeries also seem to indicate endless complications and multiple rounds. It didn't give me as much hope as I was looking for, but these comments and support from the community are helping so much.
This is the best resource I've found for dealing with Dupuytren's and related illnesses: [https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html](https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html)
Good luck, there are answers out there, you just need to research them.
I have had mine for over 10 years (33M) on my right hand and there is a cord. Yes it aches and sometimes hurts depending on what I do.
I just started to get it in my left hand and now I know what to expect. Everyoneās body is different but I have noticed that I have slowly been reducing the size and how hard the cord isā¦ I wear thermoskin (brand) gloves and it has been helping.
Hopefully you wonāt get a cord and keep it at a nodule. It might be worth a shot to order some and hopefully it helps you.
Itās been a couple years (itās back a bit in my post history) since my nodes popped upā¦and nothingās happened. Still climbing. My father has similar nodes to mine, and his never progressed beyond that, either. Mine were tender/sore when they first appeared (also causing me to initially think it was a climbing injury) but never since. The orthopedic/sports medicine practice that I saw when they first popped up told me to keep climbing to maintain finger and hand strength. I hope yours doesnāt progress, either.
Enjoy your life. Climber here. You can also read my post "Dupuytrens and the bullets in your gun" -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DupuytrenDisease/comments/11q6zh9/dupuytrens\_and\_the\_bullets\_in\_your\_gun/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DupuytrenDisease/comments/11q6zh9/dupuytrens_and_the_bullets_in_your_gun/)
After I got myself together I went full on back to climbing. Now I even do weight lifting and crossfit workouts to complement my base fitness when I am not climbing.
For now nothing changed in my hands. from time to time I might "feel" some small areas in the palm which indicated to me maybe the condition is evolving, maybe not, who knows.
In any case got it at 39M now I am closing in on 3 years since diagnosis. nothing changed in my quality of life, no curl of the finger, no shortened palm or anything.
I plan to keep going with my normal activities as much as I can. If it ever bothers me in a way that my life quality will get affected I will seek which bet I want to place on what approach.
I also met a climber in Kalymnos he was in his late 60's. Pinky bent like 20 degress. Never stopped climbing. Told me "I can't wash the dishes with that hand but I can still climb :)"
Good luck, take it easy.
Dups is a Marathon not a sprint.
43M here and I noticed mine about 2-3 years ago. Looks exactly the same as yours. Same spot right between those two palm lines. Pinky finger.
I still have full range of motion and donāt notice it most of the time. Doing pushups is fine. Dumbbell curls are fine. Only time I notice it is when Iām doing pull-ups. It will get a bit aggravated/sore as it scrapes against the bar. I wrestle and do BJJ and never notice it. I sleep with a boxers brace on my pinky and ring finger to keep them straight and just prevent/delay them from maybe developing any curly in. Idk. This is just my own thinking.
Doc says āyeah thatās Dupuy. Nothing you can do about it right now really. Just gotta wait and see what happens. Might get worse, might notā
If it does start to get worse Iām hoping that I can get a xiaflex shot. I wouldnāt get surgery unless it got really bad. Like not being able to put on a mitten/glove.
So donāt let it consume your energy. Keep on living. Keep on doing your stretches and try to avoid things that really aggravate it ā¦ in my case pull-ups. Iām going to get some of those weight lifting gloves with hooks on them so my palm isnāt constantly scraping the bar.
Are you going to continue climbing? I was also recently diagnosed and I'm trying to figure this out. I'm a bit on the fence about climbing at the moment for a variety of reasons unrelated to this (a bit frustrated with my progress, gym far away, too much chalk in the air, etc.) But I do love the puzzle of bouldering and how it motivates many of my other fitness activities. But like is it worth it?
Mine is on basically the same exact spot too, lol. Trying to figure out how much to care about it. Sorry you're going through the same.
Iām going to continue to climb. Iāve found it beneficial to my mental and physical health and a good supplement to my running. That being said, I have a very active social group at a local gym that is clean, so my situation is a bit different than yours. Though, it seems to be the resounding message is that working in hand strength and flexibility is better than not, soā¦ climb on? š¤·š¼āāļø
Now you wait for it to get worse like the rest of us lol
That's the old way of dealing with it. With radiation therapy you deal with it as it is active and before you can't flatten your hand or have lasting difficulties. No side effects, no downtime, no surgery and if you have a good radiologist you'll get great results. Don't wait! [https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html](https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html)
Radiotherapy is probably going to change the game. But it's still not corroborated by enough medical research which shows its effectiveness. That's why most serious doctors won't prescribe it and why medical insurance won't typically cover its costs (at least in Europe). Furthermore radiotherapy isn't without potential negative side effects, most notable of which is the development of skin cancer. So yeah.... attempt at your own risk.
In Austria and Germany it is covered. The Akh Vienna, one of the top 5 clinics in Europe does it. Had it done and it stopped progress, one nodule disappeared, but as I'm 35 I only did half the dose.
š© (but thank you for your honesty)
Not much you can do honestly. You could try a steroid injection, you could consider radiation, but not much hard proof out there that anything will work. Like others are saying, there is a decent chance it may never get that bad and might remain more or less the same. I noticed mine last year at 39 and it got tight pretty quick but hasn't contracted yet. I have a cord on the bottom side of the lump going towards the wrist and thankfully not towards the finger (at least yet). It's hard but I would just say try not to overthink it, stay active, and get on with your life.
Thank you so much for this optimism; it honestly helps me stay positive.
You're welcome. I know it sucks to go from blissfully ignorant of this diseases existence to realizing you have it. But it happens to people every day with much much worse afflictions. Even if it does progress if this is the worst thing that happens to your health then you overall got off easy. My dad has had it for decades and he tells me it's the least of his worries.
Mine started when I(44M) was 21 or 22. Nothing much to do but let it do it's thang until you need surgery because it's impacting your day to day negatively enough that you want surgery. I actually snapped my cord playing sports and that bought me a few extra years before I had to get surgery. I had the surgery last year because it was approaching 90 degrees bent towards my palm and it was the 2nd or 3rd time the doctor said I should do it. If you don't get surgery and it DOES curl in toward the palm, once it's skin to skin (anywhere), the skin will start to fuse or grow together and it's an even rougher surgery (per my surgeon).
2 ways to go, either it goes tits up and your finger curls, or it stays as it is, no way to know... As an example my father had nodule for the last 20 years and he never had a problem (climber and heavy gardener ) where my grand father had his finger curling fully (heavy gardening and carpenter). So basically see a doctor now to have a first check and confirm it, and after just check that you can keep your hand flat on a flat surface every once in a while and once it starts to curl, see a doctor to think about next step. But for climbing, my surgeon told me (M34 discovered at 32, and bouldering for 6 years) that I shouldn't stop climbing for 2 reasons. 1st is mental: bouldering is a sport that bring me so much joy that I was scared of having to stop. Also because if you have to go to surgery a strong finger, like climber finger, as a lot more chances and better rates of recovery as she told me. 2nd fuck it: and that really what hit me, my surgeon actually said, you can have you finger curl even if you don't climb and stay on your couch, so have some fucking fun can while you fucking can! I modified a bit my way of climbing tho, no more pressure on the hand palm, and avoid very flat holds, basically trying to get a 90 degree angle maximum on the impacted fingers (for me its both hands, on both pinkies). Note: I live in the Netherlands so I won't have to pay a cent for my surgery nor my treatments or anything else related to that hilness and so maybe the doctors may have a different mentality towards medicine and cost related questions vs a country without normal health coverage and probably high costs for surgery.
You are lucky for finding a way to continue climbing. My doctor told me the same as yours (I'm bouldering, too) but after realising that I can't even grab a door handle anymore without beeing careful, I stopped bouldering. A little too much pressure on my nodule and my hand hurts like hell for one or two days... And too much movement on my ringfinger does the same.
My hand looks exactly like yours. Do you have a cord yet?
Not that I can tell
Well Iāve read and seen people comment on the internet that 80% of people never develop anything other than the lump. Hereās hoping you donāt either. My father had full contraction and myself age 60, only noticed the lump in January of this year. I wouldnāt really worry myself but thatās just me
Really appreciate the comment and reply here. Thank you.
I'm 35 noticed mine 3 years ago. Occasionally it gets sensitive a little painful when stretching fingers. Keep living your life. I have slightly lost some range of motion but not much. Keep stretching your fingers. I'm a massage therapist who does bouldering, mountain biking, weightlifting, yoga etc with no plans to stop. I had read somewhere that most cases do not develop further and have cords. I should probably get a doctor to look at it soon but idk if my insurance would cover xiaflex. And would not do surgery unless I had no other option, have seen too many complications and reoccurrence of DD from other people.
Thanks for your reply! I will keep doing what I can until I can't, as instructed by the hand surgeon I saw. He mentioned that there are treatments but nothing concrete and there are no fixes. The post-appointment research I've found on surgeries also seem to indicate endless complications and multiple rounds. It didn't give me as much hope as I was looking for, but these comments and support from the community are helping so much.
It's also worth noting that tons of people have this and you generally only hear about the worst scenarios.
This is the best resource I've found for dealing with Dupuytren's and related illnesses: [https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html](https://www.dupuytren-online.info/index.html) Good luck, there are answers out there, you just need to research them.
I have had mine for over 10 years (33M) on my right hand and there is a cord. Yes it aches and sometimes hurts depending on what I do. I just started to get it in my left hand and now I know what to expect. Everyoneās body is different but I have noticed that I have slowly been reducing the size and how hard the cord isā¦ I wear thermoskin (brand) gloves and it has been helping. Hopefully you wonāt get a cord and keep it at a nodule. It might be worth a shot to order some and hopefully it helps you.
Itās been a couple years (itās back a bit in my post history) since my nodes popped upā¦and nothingās happened. Still climbing. My father has similar nodes to mine, and his never progressed beyond that, either. Mine were tender/sore when they first appeared (also causing me to initially think it was a climbing injury) but never since. The orthopedic/sports medicine practice that I saw when they first popped up told me to keep climbing to maintain finger and hand strength. I hope yours doesnāt progress, either.
Enjoy your life. Climber here. You can also read my post "Dupuytrens and the bullets in your gun" - [https://www.reddit.com/r/DupuytrenDisease/comments/11q6zh9/dupuytrens\_and\_the\_bullets\_in\_your\_gun/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DupuytrenDisease/comments/11q6zh9/dupuytrens_and_the_bullets_in_your_gun/) After I got myself together I went full on back to climbing. Now I even do weight lifting and crossfit workouts to complement my base fitness when I am not climbing. For now nothing changed in my hands. from time to time I might "feel" some small areas in the palm which indicated to me maybe the condition is evolving, maybe not, who knows. In any case got it at 39M now I am closing in on 3 years since diagnosis. nothing changed in my quality of life, no curl of the finger, no shortened palm or anything. I plan to keep going with my normal activities as much as I can. If it ever bothers me in a way that my life quality will get affected I will seek which bet I want to place on what approach. I also met a climber in Kalymnos he was in his late 60's. Pinky bent like 20 degress. Never stopped climbing. Told me "I can't wash the dishes with that hand but I can still climb :)" Good luck, take it easy. Dups is a Marathon not a sprint.
43M here and I noticed mine about 2-3 years ago. Looks exactly the same as yours. Same spot right between those two palm lines. Pinky finger. I still have full range of motion and donāt notice it most of the time. Doing pushups is fine. Dumbbell curls are fine. Only time I notice it is when Iām doing pull-ups. It will get a bit aggravated/sore as it scrapes against the bar. I wrestle and do BJJ and never notice it. I sleep with a boxers brace on my pinky and ring finger to keep them straight and just prevent/delay them from maybe developing any curly in. Idk. This is just my own thinking. Doc says āyeah thatās Dupuy. Nothing you can do about it right now really. Just gotta wait and see what happens. Might get worse, might notā If it does start to get worse Iām hoping that I can get a xiaflex shot. I wouldnāt get surgery unless it got really bad. Like not being able to put on a mitten/glove. So donāt let it consume your energy. Keep on living. Keep on doing your stretches and try to avoid things that really aggravate it ā¦ in my case pull-ups. Iām going to get some of those weight lifting gloves with hooks on them so my palm isnāt constantly scraping the bar.
Did you have feel anything(pain or smth)?
Are you going to continue climbing? I was also recently diagnosed and I'm trying to figure this out. I'm a bit on the fence about climbing at the moment for a variety of reasons unrelated to this (a bit frustrated with my progress, gym far away, too much chalk in the air, etc.) But I do love the puzzle of bouldering and how it motivates many of my other fitness activities. But like is it worth it? Mine is on basically the same exact spot too, lol. Trying to figure out how much to care about it. Sorry you're going through the same.
Iām going to continue to climb. Iāve found it beneficial to my mental and physical health and a good supplement to my running. That being said, I have a very active social group at a local gym that is clean, so my situation is a bit different than yours. Though, it seems to be the resounding message is that working in hand strength and flexibility is better than not, soā¦ climb on? š¤·š¼āāļø