Bracing Carpometacarpal Arthritis of the Thumb — Really
A surprisingly durable nonsurgical approach
What’s the Claim?
A five-year, prospective, observational study found that patients who used exercise therapy and an orthosis for carpometacarpal arthritis of the thumb:
- Maintained their patient-reported outcomes scores for hand pain and function over the long term (in fact, their scores improved slightly)
- Had decent “satisfaction scores” (a little more than half rated satisfaction as good or excellent)
- Seldom opted for surgery (only 22% did so [95% CI 16% to 28%]).
There are some important caveats here, but there’s also a group of patients who will be well served by this option, so these findings are real-world practical.
