Thumb joint fusion

I have been reading old posts and came upon some discussion about CMC thumb joint fusion.  Ally-cat, Dpete and Razzle51 were discussing experience with this in January.  I had my thumb joint fused in Sept. 06 after initially having the athroplasty done first and having it fail in 6 months.  The arhtoplasty is where they take out a bone and insert a rolled up tendon in its place.  I had a difference surgeon do the fusion.  He took out the rolled up tendon and used a plate and screws to secure the joint for fusion and then needed to remove the hardware 3 months later because it was rubbing at the base of my thumb whenever I would turn it.  The removal was not in the original plan.   I am still having pain at the base of my thumb.     Dr.says the bone is fused and seems to think this will clear up in another few months.  Did any of you experience anything like this?  I am back to searching for my pain pills after a weekend of picking up a new grand baby (only 13 lbs.) and playing catch for a while with another grand daughter.  I am still trying to work part time and this is really difficult.  I am a hairstylist.  I have OA. 

 

At some point I need to have something done to the other thumb also.  I'm just not sure where to start.

 

Any info would be helpful.  Thanks. 

Grayone

dpete,

Do you experience any weakness?  Would you be able to pick up a baby and play catch without having pain afterwards?  Are there any limitations you feel that you have other than the decreased range of motion?  I do not have any swelling or stiffness.  Just pain with use. 

Thanks for sharing.

Grayone

Hello Grayone,

I am sorry that your are having so much trouble. Being a hairstylist would be very hard work on your poor hands.

I will tell you about my experience: It has been 5 months since i had my thumb fused, and i have been so happy with the results. There is no pain in the joint anymore, and my grip feels a lot stronger. I dont get any swelling, but my joint can be a bit stiff in the mornings when it is cold.

Have you had a second opinion about your thumb?

I hope you feel better soon,
Ally-cat

Dear grayone, I also had the arthroplasty surgery in January, along with 4 other procedures done on my right hand. When I went in for a follow-up visit to the surgeon last week, the surgeon informed that my thumb joint is way to loose, and more surgery is mandatory with joint fusion He questioned how I could tolerate the pain, however, as I was informed by the P/T whenever I complained about the severity of pain it was explained to me that this was a normal part of the recovery process. There are times where it feels as though, a marble is being pushed through a straw, or an explosion in the thumb area. It does get intense at times. I was unaware that was not normal after 16 weeks of recovery and tolerated it. I am still unable to grasp, pinch or write more than 5 minutes, I do have a numbing sensation and stiffness is awful. I still awaken during the night because of the pain. I am curious as to your experience and if you now feel as though your surgery helped. Thanks.

Thanks for your replies Katherm and Eureka.  I did not experience the marble thru a straw or the explosion type of pain after the arthroplasty but mine was also very intense.  The second surgeon said that it had totally come apart...it was attached to NOTHING on the bottom part where the first surgeon had put it in.  I had many sleepless nights with the throbbing pain.  PT and the first Dr. just kept telling me it would take time.  It is better after the fusion but I am by no means pain free.  I am able to work half days.  I am a hairstylist......talk about hand over use!  The thing that causes the most pain is lifting my grandkids.  Just a couple of times and I am back to the throbbing pain for several days. 

Eureka,  I am somewhat confused as to how you can have arthoplasty after fusion.  I guess you are saying it totally failed so they could still go in and take the wedge of bone out since they had not fusioned together.  What a mess!   The Dr. told me arthoplasty is 98% successful.  Some of us have to fall in that 2% I guess.  Glad it is working better for you.  I have read that fusion can fail also and you are the first I have heard from that it has happened to. 

Katherm, I was in a cast for 5 weeks.  Started very limited PT at 6 weeks and returned to very limited work at 8 weeks.  I was told the fusion takes a full 12 weeks so I needed to be very careful for that time frame.  I will certainly look into the power scrubber and the Gizmo.  Thanks for the tips.  I found a swedish cutting board that really helped me that has prongs that stick up to hold an apple or potato.  It's on a handicap hand gadget site www.wrightstuff.biz/swedcutboar.html    Kind of pricey but saved my fingers. They have some other good stuff there too.

Grayone 

I'm considering carpometacarpal joint (the joint at the base of the thumb) fusion surgery and am also, like "secunda," a golfer. I'm wondering how the loss of flexibility of this joint might affect my golf grip and swing. Has anyone had experience with this? (I also play tennis and have the same concerns about the surgery's effect on my ability to grip a racquet.) Thanks for any guidance.

I should say, in the interests of full disclosure, that my pain does not result from arthritis but from a traumatic injury to the thumb about 30 years ago, when I tore the tendon that keeps the joint properly aligned. Over the years, the misaligned bones have abraded, destroying the cartilage in the joint and developing areas of inflammation (cysts?) in the two bones.