The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > Other Discussions > Open Mic

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 01-11-2023, 06:20 PM
dhodgeh's Avatar
dhodgeh dhodgeh is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: FLA-USA
Posts: 912
Default Thumb Pain Revisited - Regenerative Therapy?

Has anyone taken the 'Regenerative Therapy' route to deal with arthritic thumbs?

Keep seeing these adds on TV that claim to heal all sorts of joint problem, and wondering if this therapy is snake oil, or is there more to it.

My meager looking into this on the 'net is inconclusive, and it also appears that the treatments are fairly expensive at the moment.

Any first hand (no pun intended) experience here?

D
__________________
"There's a lot of music in songs"

Last edited by dhodgeh; 01-11-2023 at 06:27 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-12-2023, 11:30 PM
dirkronk dirkronk is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: 3 miles due north of the Alamo
Posts: 3,134
Default

Hi dhodgeh.

There's an assortment of "regenerative therapy" techniques out there. The ones I know of aren't cheap, aren't painless, and aren't likely covered by insurance, so you can get stomped on six ways from Sunday, but if you get the right doctor you might also get the use of your hand back.

My wife is a CranioSacral Therapist, Lymph Drainage practitioner, and is trained in more other modalities than I can remember, but the point is, she uses her hands and wrists a lot. Also really loves what she does, which is why she's 75 and still not retired from her practice. But about five or six years ago, pain was getting so bad that she thought for sure she'd have to hang it up. IIRC, it was a combination of strains and a good bit of arthritis, but not just arthritis alone (so I can't speak to your exact situation), but we just knew it was worth it to her to try something. Couple of things, actually, both involving shots directly into the affected joints to stimulate new cell growth (OK, they give you a numbing agent, but she's not squeamish about that at all; me, I cringe just thinking about it). Anyway...

Tried prolotherapy first. That's where they inject some kind of sugar-based irritant. I understand it works on some folks, but others don't react well. In my wife's case, it simply didn't work...at least not well enough. So she talked to the doctor and stepped up the next treatment to...

PRP (protein-rich platelets). That's where they draw your blood, send you off to lunch or a waiting room for an hour+ while they spin down the blood in a centrifuge, and when you come back they inject the resulting platelets back into your joints. That worked. But it was a multi-time process (three or four rounds, as I recall, each one several weeks apart). She came away with hands really sore when the numbing agent wore off, stayed painful for several days before she could use her hands again to work. But there was enough of a positive result after the first PRP procedure so she was confident to continue.

Upshot: she completed the three or four rounds over those several months, and she's been able to continue working as usual for these past five years. No, I do NOT know if that's typical or some aberration. Also, that doesn't mean she was left with zero pain...just that it was so much better for so long that she has only recently talked about maybe going back for one or two PRP procedures as maintenance.

I've read that there's another, more refined version of PRP...and beyond that, stem cell therapy, but I just know what worked for my wife.

Hope that helps a bit. Just remember, I'm simply a guy on the interweb with absolutely no medical smarts whatsoever. So for heaven's sake, do as much of your own research as you can. My wife asked tons of her cronies in the medical field down here in south Texas before she settled on the doctor she chose...and he's in Austin, so a 2+ hour drive for us each way, every time she goes. Also, as I said before, wasn't cheap (WARNING: MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT). But I'm pretty fond of her, so I figure she's worth it.

Hope you find something that'll help you. Best of luck...

Dirk
__________________
I used to think I couldn't write songs. Then I regained my composure.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-13-2023, 07:48 AM
dhodgeh's Avatar
dhodgeh dhodgeh is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: FLA-USA
Posts: 912
Default

Thanks for the informative respond Dirk. I get the feeling this therapy is in the infant stage and bears watching. I know when I mentioned it to my M.D., he did not seem to be too excited about it at the moment.

Personally, I'm not at a point where my thumbs affect my playing too much. I do have a Push thumb brace that, along with the exercises from PT, takes care of my left thumb. A dose of meloxicam every few days helps as well,

But it's a matter of time before that will not be enough, and the thought of the traditional surgeries are not very appealing.

Thanks again, and we'll just keep monitoring this for future developments.

D
__________________
"There's a lot of music in songs"
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-13-2023, 08:08 AM
Jamolay Jamolay is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2021
Posts: 1,124
Default

As a neurologist, I get questions like this frequently. Most of the advertised miracles are just fancy was to separate you from your money. Approach with caution.

Especially anything mentioning stem cell therapy if you are win the United States. US FDA regulations prevent true stem cell treatments from being done (lack of safety and efficacy), so any one doing it in the USA is doing an “abbreviated” version. So not only is stem cell therapy not conclusively proven to be effective, you aren’t really getting stem cell therapy.

The PRP that Dirk mentions, is, in my understanding, a pretty well tried and true technique used by many pro athletes. I would think that one would be reasonable and would be considered real medicine. I don’t really know that much about it, so take my advice with caution.
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > Other Discussions > Open Mic

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:37 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=