If you are experiencing tightness, knotted tissue, poor mobility and pain in the palms of one or both hands, you may be suffering from a condition know as Dupuytren’s contracture.

Dupuytren’s contracture is a condition where the connective tissue under the skin of the palms becomes contracted, thickened and shortens over time.

This condition is inherited and tends to be more common in people of Scandinavian or Northern European descent, and more often in older people and in men . While there is no known cause, research has suggested correlations with other medical issues such as alcoholism, smoking, diabetes, seizure medications, and interestingly, hypothyroidism.

Symptoms of Dupuytren’s contracture include:

• inability to extend the hand flat on a table
• one or more small sore nodules on the skin of the palms
• nodules of hardened tissue that is most often seen to connect with the ring finger or middle finger
• the nodules tighten and thicken into bands and cause the fingers to fold forward
• difficulty using the affected hand

What are conventional treatments for Dupuytren’s contracture?

Surgery or steroid injections are the main forms of conventional treatment. Surgery I feel should be used a last resort. More conservative treatments can be tried first. Surgery in this case involves opening up the skin over the cords and removing fibrous tissue. Surgery is not curative and the condition may return at a later time. Steroid injections come with side-effects. Steroids are hormones that alter the delicate overall hormonal balance of the body.

Left untreated, this condition can cause inability to use the hands for certain tasks. Gripping objects and straightening the fingers becomes harder.

Thankfully, there are alternative treatments.

How does acupuncture treat Dupuytren’s?

A newer conventional form of treatment is needling into the cords to break the cord that is contracting the finger. This form on treatment is described on the Mayo clinic website. The main advantage of this treatment is that there are no large incisions to heal as with surgical treatment. It can be performed in an office on an out-patient basis.

However, conventionally-used needles are still large enough to carry risk of tendon and nerve injury. The advantage of having this done by an acupuncturist is that an acupuncturist’s needles are much smaller so there is no risk of injuring tendons or nerves in the hands and there is no need for any recovery time.

Acupuncture is applied along the cords. Healthy terrain is restored using electrical stimulation whereby electrical stimulator wires are attached to the base of the acupuncture needle. You will feel either nothing at all, or a mild tapping or pulsing sensation. The amount of voltage is always carefully done to your comfort level. As healing electricity flows through the wires it moves into the tissues to support faster healing than simple acupuncture alone.

From an acupuncture point of view, Dupuytren’s contracture is a tendon issue. The tendons are governed by the liver system. This would also explain why Dupuytren’s is correlated with other conditions where the liver is compromised such as alcoholism, and seizure disorders.

Dupuytren’s is found mainly along the Pericardium and Heart channels

of the hand. Treating these unbalanced channels is essential to treatment. When disease forms along a channel it signifies that healthy terrain has been lost.

Will acupuncture reverse the contractures and nodules?

If treatment is started in its early stages complete resolution is possible and does happen in a shorter period of time than if treatment is delayed. If treatment is started in later stages, Dupuytren’s may be stabilized and more treatments will be required.

Is there anything else I can do to heal the hands?

A great self-care tool you can use is guasha on the palms, over the contractures and nodules. You will need a guasha tool and these can be found on Amazon and sometimes in your local Chinese herb shop.

1. Apply a small amount of massage oil of any variety on to the palm .
2. With the guasha tool, use forceful strokes over the nodules and contractures to loosen up the tissues.
3. Stop when it becomes too uncomfortable.
4. Repeat this process daily.

Other self-care advice:

Soak hands in hot water or apply hot compress for 15-20 minutes daily.

Massage and stretching of the hand and fingers will also help soften the tissues.

Yours in health,

Cynthia McGilvray, R.Ac.