Ow My hand hurts soo bad!

Miss S,

  I hope Binney comes along to help: it sounds like you really chafed your web space, and you do want to avoid that as it could damage your skin and the lymphatics.

  Binney has recommended padding the area with artiflex, or some soft foam, and she recommends corn starch when the chafe comes from garments.

  When I've chafed, I've sometimes applied a cut piece of a telfa pad to the area with some bacitracin ointment to make it stick, and put a wrap of artiflex over the area before I wrap.

  Since I often chafe in that area, I put a piece of soft foam in there before I wrap.

  Now, I'm in a cast, and actually really wish I could wrap! Sad, no?

Kira

MissS, what a bummer!

I'm wondering how it's working to add some padding? Hope you're seeing some improvement in the pain level. I have trouble with pain in that area sometimes too, and do find a bit of extra padding helps (I use a square of Artiflex over the area. If you're wrapping your fingers with gauze you might also try wrapping the second wrap (the one for thumb and pinkie, y'know?) backwards -- start it going around your wrist in the opposite direction from what you've been doing. It's a little strange at first, but worth a try. For some reason that really takes both pain and swelling down in the area for me. (Be sure to keep your fingers and thumb well extended and separated as you're wrapping so you're not pulling the thumb inward with a too-tight wrap.)

My day gloves also cause this kind of pain, and what worked for me is to have my fitter measure around my palm VERY LOOSELY. That keep my thumb from having to work so hard to stay in a relaxed position -- a tight fit around the palm pulls in at the sides and makes my thumb sort of "collapse" into my palm in an unnatural position. If you have a lot of swelling in your palm or the back of your hard you could then use a Swell Spot to help with that instead of trying to get all the compression from a too-tight glove.

Did any of that make sense?!!

Hugs! Keep us posted,
Binney

Hi, Miss S:

I have the same issue = I get a tender spot between my thumb and pointer finger because of the seams on my gauntlets.  I use the micropore tape, and also, the liquid bandage stuff (can't remember the name - sorry!) works well, also.

Girl, you can lick this = no worries!  You have several experts on this thread (not me)!!!

I just take the tape and tear or cut a little piece to go over the pressure point that is giving me trouble, and then put my gauntlet back on.  I was having some issues with the elbow crease when I wear my compression sleeve, but some prosthetic lotion fixed that. 

These are all tips I got from this forum.  I love my LE therapist, but these women on this forum are my 'experts'.  So far, every problem I've had, they've fixed. 

Hang in there, Miss S.  I bet they will fix your problem too.

Yep, that's how mine looks when it's acting up. Never even thought to wonder what they were, just tried to get them to stop hurting! For me, the looser wrap and more flexibility of the thumb and fingers, and some soft padding, eases it. We do ask a lot of that joint area with both wrapping and garments.

As you wrap with the short stretch bandages across that area, are you folding the bandage down at that point so it isn't pressing into the joint? I can't leave the bandage flat (unfolded) there or I get that in the web. It's a bit of a trick to fold the bandage there and make sure the fold doesn't continue past that point, but with a bit of patience () I can make it work. (When my therapist does it she makes it look so stupid simple!)

Also, for some reason it's hard to keep the short-stretch from rubbing directly on my skin through there, so that's another reason why the extra bit of Artiflex helps there.

Just curious now -- do the rest of you fold your bandages as they cross the web space or not? I'd be interested to know if everybody does that or it's just me. <sigh!>

Be well, MissS, and do keep us posted!
Binney