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Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment

Posted on by Dr. Herazy

Ultrasound treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture

Dupuytren's contracture ultrasound treatment is safe and affordable. Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment is the perfect non-invasive soft tissue therapy.   This is true because ultrasound has a great therapeutic effect especially on the soft tissue. In fact, ultrasound therapy is the standard treatment of choice for most soft tissue problems in the sports world.  It is used in most worker’s comp related injuries, as well.

You see, ultrasound influences most greatly those tissues with a high protein content.  And there is no tissue with a higher protein content than the soft tissue (muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc.) of the body.  Scar tissue, similar to the Dupuytren’s palm nodule and finger cord is very similar to scar tissue which has the highest protein content of all tissue.   Add Dupuytren’s contracture to that list because DC palm lumps and finger cords are primarily made of collagen and fibrin.  Clearly, Dupuytren’s contracture is a soft tissue problem ideally suited for ultrasound treatment.

For these reasons, ultrasound treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture is an effective and popular therapy with DCI customers.

There are many reasons people like treating Dupuytren’s contracture with ultrasound:

  1. No pain; comfortable treatment.
  2. Safe, no side effects.
  3. Convenient, do at home or anywhere, anytime.
  4. Economical; pays for itself by the 2nd treatment application.
  5. Good reports of effectiveness from thousands of DC users.
  6. Applied directly to the problem tissue.
  7. Also good to treat arthritis of small joints (jaw, toe, finger, ankle and wrist).

Ultrasound treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture was included into the DCI large treatment plan in 2012.  That same year DCI started to advise adding ultrasound therapy to any small plan that was not working well.  Since then, many times over, ultrasound has made all the difference to previously ineffective plans that needed a big boost.

3 MHZ Ultrasound Information

Does ultrasound help Dupuytren’s contracture?

Because 72% of DCI customers combine ultrasound into larger size plans, they rate their DCI treatment results to be very good.  Indications are that ultrasound improves Dupuytren’s contracture treatment results 89% of the time.  Overall, 8-10 people report moderate to marked improvement of their DC, for every one report of failure.  Indeed, Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment is an important part of that success.

What is ultrasound?

Ultrasound is not complicated. Simply, ultrasound is sound greater than a frequency of 20,000 Hz. It is so high-pitched (high frequency) that a human cannot hear it.  Here is some fun information that explains it a little better.

When discussing sound, the term Hertz is used.  Hertz is a unit of measurement to count vibrations that happen in one second.  Hertz is abbreviated HZ.  One hertz (Hz) means something vibrates one time in one second. 17 Hz means something vibrates 17 times in one second. When something vibrates a million times in a second, or one mega Hertz, abbreviated 1 MHz.  Lastly, 3 MHz is three million vibrations per second.

To put things in perspective, the sounds made by the human voice range from 85 Hz to 255 Hz.  Further, the human ear can hear within a range of 20 to 20,000 Hz.  At 1 MHz, no human can hear ultrasound.  Not even a bat can hear at that sound frequency.

When electricity passes through a small mineral crystal, it will vibrate.  This vibration creates a sound wave. Like when a bell vibrates and makes a sound. The sound frequency depends on the size and shape of the crystal.  As we already know, ultrasound vibrations can go well past a million per second. Once created, ultrasound waves pass from the sound head of the machine, and travel into any tissue it contacts.

Sound energy moves whatever it contacts, making that material also vibrate.  Specifically, when ultrasound energy contacts the human body, that part of the body will vibrate at the same frequency.  Likewise, ultrasound vibrations will transfer into abnormal or injured tissue.  As we will see, this is important because vibrating living cells causes them to faster and better. This is the key to why Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment is so important.

3 MHZ Ultrasound Information

What does Dupuytren’s ultrasound treatment do?

When tissue vibrates so fast, several things happen that are important to all soft tissue problems, especially Dupuytren’s contracture:

  • HEATING EFFECT – Ultrasound warms the tissue by vibration and friction, caused by sound waves shaking the tissues at 3MHz. Like rubbing your hands together 3 MHz! However, this heating takes place below the surface where there are no nerve endings. Therefore, the heat cannot be felt.  Deep heat stimulates the healing process like a heating pad. But a heating pad only warms the surface. The heat cannot penetrate deeply because blood circulation carries the heat away.  Thus, ultrasound warms all tissues deeper and faster than the blood can cool them.  In fact, it even warms the blood vessels.
  • CAVITATION – Formation of temporary gas cavities or voids within body fluids and tissue cells.  These gas voids increase the metabolic activity of cell membranes. Cavitation also increases the effect of the acoustic streaming phenomena.  These cavities collapse almost immediately, releasing a large amount of energy. In turn, this results in additional deep warming.
  • ACOUSTIC STREAMING – Small-scale ripple effect of fluid near any vibrating structure, (bathtub, coffee cup, or sick tissue cell).  This is an extremely powerful form of fluid movement.  Acoustic streaming increases the activity and metabolism of any cell within the sound energy stream.  It makes sodium and calcium ions pass more easily through cell walls. In turn, enzymes work better, protein metabolism is increased, and the cells function at a faster rate. Consequently, all these changes “up regulate,” or excite cellular activity.  Thus, ultrasound acoustic streaming acts as a trigger to increase the therapeutic outcome of healing and repair.
  • MICROMASSAGE – Physical shaking is like a cellular back rub. Movement of cells and what is in them to increase tissue fluid interchange.

Not all Dupuytren’s disease ultrasound machines the same

Dupuytren’s contracture is a relatively superficial soft tissue problem.  This dense abnormal fibrous tissue is immediately below the skin surface.

Any ultrasound machine used to treat Dupuytren’s contracture must have a particular frequency range to keep the therapeutic sound waves within the palm lump and finger cord.

A 1MHz machine penetrates too deeply to be effective for Dupuytren’s contracture. This sound frequency is good for treating large joint problems of the hip, knee, shoulder and low back.  By contrast, a 3 MHz unit penetrates just a little below the surface.  Also, it is used for cosmetic problems like small joint arthritis, facial wrinkles and skin discoloration.  What is more, making it ideal to treat Dupuytren’s contracture.

To summarize, use 3 MHz ultrasound to treat Dupuytren’s contracture.  A faster 3MHz unit produces ultrasound that works near the surface of the skin, where the problem of DC is located. Not deep down.  The sound waves of the 1 MHz and 2 MHz ultrasound machines travel too deeply for good Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment.

Using ultrasound treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture

Full instructions for using our 3MHz ultrasound machine come with each DCI order.  You will have all the information you need to use ultrasound correctly for Dupuytren’s contracture therapy. No one complains they do not understand.

Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment is not a magic bullet or miracle cure for palm lumps and finger cords.  Ultrasound is just more tool to assist the healing process. Regardless, it still takes a lot of time and work to get the job done to the best of your ability.

3MHz – Model HS-3040 – Ultrasound treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture

Dupuytren's contracture ultrasound treatment reduces promotes healing and reduces inflammation. Ultrasound treatment of Dupuytren's contracture can be done at home easily and conveniently. Ultrasound for Dupuytren's contraction is cost effective. Remove term: Does ultrasound help Dupuytren’s contracture Does ultrasound help Dupuytren’s contracture? Yes, it does. Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound is easy to self-apply. Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound therapy should be applied 3/week, for 10 minutes per application. Dupuytren’s disease ultrasound work can be done on either hand. Dupuytren’s contracture Ultrasound for Dupuytren’s contracture uses 110V house current.

  • Only portable 3MHz ultrasound machine with stainless steel sound head
  • Only portable 3MHz ultrasound machine with FDA 510K clearance for medical use
  • Delivers dependable 3MHz (3 million waves per second) frequency that is ideal for treatment of Dupuytren’s contracture, rather than 1MHz frequency work best on deeper tissue, arthritis and large joint treatment
  • Select either continuous or pulsed setting
  • Lightweight
  • Durable
  • Portable
  • Two different power settings available:
  • U.S.A. – 24V DC, and 110V AC
  • International standard settings – 24V DC, and 230V AC

Practically all US machines sold on the internet are 1MHz units.  They are so popular because they are designed to treat deep tissue joint pain that is covered with many layers of heavy tissue (knees, hips, shoulders), whiplash neck injury, most kinds of arthritis, and heavy muscle pain problems. But the 1MHz size machine is not ideal for Dupuytren’s contracture.

Dupuytren’s contracture is a superficial soft tissue problem, found much close to the surface of the body. For this reason, any US machine used to treat Dupuytren’s contracture must have a particular frequency range to keep the therapeutic effect closer to the skin surface where the DC problems are located.

Dupuytren’s contracture ultrasound treatment has three primary benefits:

  1. Speeding up the healing process by cavitation, acoustic streaming, heating and the increase in blood flow in the treated area.
  2. Decrease pain from the reduction of swelling and edema.
  3. Gentle massage of the area of fibrous tissue formation to soften nodules, cords and scar tissue.

(US Ultrasound orders) 110V Option   $160.00    $160.00

(International Ultrasound orders) 130V Option     $160.00

NOTE : Contact or coupling gel is needed to treat with ultrasound.  Mineral oil or plain ultrasound coupling gel can be used, but for DC the best is DMSO gel because it delivers other therapeutic benefits.  If you haven’t used DMSO previously, click HERE to learn more.

Dupuytren contracture pictures

Posted on by Dr. Herazy

Dupuytren contracture pictures

What does Dupuytren’s contracture look like?

Pictures of Dupuytren’s contracture show palm lumps, finger cords and finger flexion deformity  

BefPicture of Dupuytren contracture of left hand, showing well developed palm lump and pit formation with moderate ring finger flexion. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity. ore displaying several Dupuytren contracture pictures, it will be helpful to explain that there are three primary features associated with this chronic hand problem. These are the features that appear in pictures of Dupuytrens contracture:

  1. Dupuytren nodule – these lumps on the palm surface often look like a callus or perhaps melted wax. Typically, they are located at the base of the ring (4th) or pinky (5th) fingers. The skin often appears dimpled or depressed along with a slightly raised surface.  It will often appear to be a slightly darker color due to the thickening of the tissue that is taking place, similar to a callus.  Later, as the condition progresses, more clearly defined edges develop, as well as deeper depressions or dimples, and greater thickness over time.
  2. Dupuytren finger cord – this important feature is not directly not visible on the palm. It is below the surface of the skin.  However, the finger cord raises the skin surface like one of the larger ligaments on the inside surface of the wrist or the bend of the elbow, as when making a tight fist  or lifting something heavy.  A finger cord extends from the upper palm at one end, to the base of the finger at the other end.
  3. Finger flexed and cannot be straightened – as the finger cord becomes thicker sand shorter the finger becomes progressively more bent.  Consequently, the finger curls down toward the palm.  This interferes with any use of the involved finger(s).  Pain is of variable duration and intensity. Over time the finger(s) will slowly and progressively become bent, unable to straighten completely.  As a result, the finger(s) take on a claw-like appearance.

For information about DCI treatment plans

Eliminate the Dupuytren’s nodule with safe natural treatment

Great news!  It is important for anyone with Dupuytren to understand that Dupuytren can self-heal.  The body self-heals an unknown percent of early Dupuytren disease.  Also, self-healing can even reduce older, larger palm nodules and cords of Dupuytren’s contracture.

Surgery is not always necessary to eliminate the Dupuytren’s nodule.  Since 2002 the Dupuytren Contracture Institute has helped people who struggle with an expanding and tightening lump on the palm. Those who closely follow the DCI treatment strategy early can do rather well.  DCI hears from 8-10 people who use our large treatment plan reporting they see moderate to marked reduction of their signs and symptoms of Dupuytren, for every one report of failure.

We find that the larger the treatment plan, and the closer a person follows DCI treatment suggestions, the better the Dupuytren self-heals. For information about DCI treatment plans.  Safe natural healing without side effects or recurrence.

>> Testimonials from Dupuytren Contracture Institute

>> How to start Dupuytren treatment with Alternative Medicine

>> Dupuytren Contracture Treatment – FAQs

Purpose of Dupuytren’s contracture photos

No picture of Dupuytren contracture will look exactly like what you might be experiencing. Therefore, these Dupuytren contracture pictures are not a substitute for a medical diagnosis.

The purpose of the Dupuytren’s disease pictures that follow is for your general knowledge. Use them to compare or confirm what you are seeing and experiencing.  Also, you can see just how severe the finger contracture and hand deformity can be. In the early stages of Dupuytren’s contracture is worried about the small – and sometimes large – changes in the appearance of the hand.  Not knowing about a problem and how bad it can become can be the worst part of a condition like this.

If you have not yet visited your doctor to have your hand lumps examined, allow these Dupuytren pictures to motivate you to seek prompt medical attention and a doctor’s opinion about your problem.  Perhaps after studying these Dupuytren contracture images, you will feel relieved you are not so bad off in comparison to other people’s situation.

Please feel free to contribute your own Dupuytren contracture pictures to DCI for inclusion on this page.

Picture of Dupuytren contracture of left hand, showing cord and advanced flexion of ring finger

Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity. Note flexion of left ring finger.

 

Picture of Dupuytren lumps or nodules at base of 2nd and 3rd fingers of left hand. Picture of bilateral Dupuytren's contracture, clearly showing cords and ring finger contracture worse on the left hand. Picture of Dupuytren contracture of right hand, showing well developed palm lump and pit formation with moderate ring finger flexion. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity, as well as limitation of use of involved hands and fingers.

Home treatment for Dupuytren's contracture is safe early treatment for Dupuytren's contracture. Picture of Dupuytren contracture of left hand, showing well developed palm lump and pit formation with moderate ring finger flexion. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity, as well as limitation of use of involved hands and fingers.

 

Dupuytren cord and little finger contracture of left hand, clearly defined on palmPicture of Dupuytrens, right hand with palm lump at base of pinky finger

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dupuytren contracture picture, lump on palm of right hand, deep dimples and thickening. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity. Dupuytren's contracture of left hand, prominent palm lump or nodule, no apparent finger flexion contracture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dupuytren's contracture photo, left hand, well developed nodule or lump on palm and moderate finger flexion

 

 

 

Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity.
 

Picture of Dupuytren contracture of left hand, showing well developed palm lump. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity. No finger flexion has occurred since no finger cord has developed yet.     Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity. Picture of Dupuytren lump on palm of right hand with slight flexion of middle finger

Picture of Dupuytren disease, multiple lumps on palms of both hand. Picture of Dupuytren contracture of left hand, showing well developed palm lump and pit formation with moderate ring finger flexion. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity.


Picture of bilateral Dupuytren's contracture, clearly showing cords and ring finger contracture worse on the left hand. Picture of Dupuytren contracture of right hand, showing well developed palm lump and pit formation with moderate ring finger flexion. Dupuytren contracture pictures are helpful to understand finger flexion deformity, as well as limitation of use of involved hands and fingers.

 

Dupuytren's contracture picture showing finger flexion and palm lump.

 

 

 

What is Dupuytren’s Disease?

Posted on by Dr. Herazy

What is Dupuytren’s disease, and can it self-heal?

Dupuytren's disease is a genetic hand problem in which the deep tissue below the skin makes excess collagen and fibrin. Dupuytren's disease self-heals in about 12% of cases. DCI works to increase this ability of the tissue to self-heal. Simply stated, Dupuytren’s disease is the beginning phase of Dupuytren’s contracture. These two slightly different names indicate two distinct stages of the same progressive hand problem.

Dupuytren’s disease is a progressive genetic hand problem in which the connective tissue layer of the palm produces excess collagen and fibrin. This extra collagen causes an area of the palm near the base of one or more fingers to thicken and become less flexible. Typically, Dupuytren’s disease first appears on the surface as a small nodule or lump in the palm.  It is often mistaken for a small blister or callus. At this early stage, the area can also form small wrinkles, dimples or pits.

Dupuytren’s contracture is the later or end stage when Dupuytren’s disease becomes a larger, more disruptive and invasive problem. During this contracture stage, the growing mass of collagen and fibrin develops a cord of dense tissue. The cord extends up and attaches to the finger closest to it. All the while, the finger cord is also thickening and contracting. This causes the cord to pull the finger down toward the palm.  It can take many months or years for this slow and gradual process to occur. The contraction process can be continuous, or it can completely stall for months or years at a time. It can even stop, start and stop again a few times before it picks up speed.

Dupuytren’s disease self-heals – spontaneous recovery 

The medical profession says there is no cure for Dupuytren’s disease. But that is not exactly true. When they say there is no cure they mean, “there is no prescription drug that cures Dupuytren, in the way that penicillin cures an infection.”

The truth is, there is a cure for Dupuytren. An undetermined percentage of people self-cure their Dupuytren without help from anyone. It happens naturally, like mending a broken bone. This is the way the body is supposed to work. Life is full of miracles, and self-healing is one of them.

The body can, and does, spontaneously repair Dupuytren disease like it heals so many other small and large health problems. Unfortunately, this does not happen every time, or in every situation.

Self-healing of Dupuytren’s disease

Sometimes the healing process needs some help to work better.  For example, every good doctor will tell a patient with a broken bone to drink extra milk, take vitamin D, wear a cast, and avoid stressing the limb.  These simple strategies help the body heal a broken bone better. The same for taking extra iron for anemia, and extra rest and vitamin C for a cold. DCI applies the same logic for designing Dupuytren’s disease treatment plans.

Based on the simple observation that some people self-heal their Dupuytren problem early, the Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute developed a natural treatment strategy to help people do a better job healing their Dupuytren disease.

As a result, people who closely follow the DCI treatment strategy early can do rather well. We hear from many people who use our large treatment plan.  Of these, 8-10 people report moderate to marked reduction of their Dupuytren, for every one report of failure. We find that the larger the treatment plan, and the better a person follows DCI suggestions, the better the Dupuytren self-heals. For information about DCI treatment plans.

>> Testimonials from Dupuytren Contracture Institute

Keeping Dupuytren’s disease self-healing a secret

However, even though Dupuytren self-healing happens, medical writers never actually use the term “self-heal,” “self-correct;” or any term close to it. On top of that, the usual term medical writers use  instead for self-healing of Dupuytren disease is to say it “goes away.”

For example, the NIH National Library of Medicine (MedlinePlus.gov) admits “Dupuytren’s nodules…occasionally even go away without treatment…”  Exactly what does “go away” mean?  They do not say. The world-famous Cleveland Clinic states, “…some people’s nodules go away on their own.”  They never explain anything about how or why it would go away.  WebMD.com tells readers that palm nodules, “…may go away on their own in a small number of patients…”  The Dupuytren Research Group (Dupuytrens.org) says, “Some Dupuytren’s nodules go away without any treatment.”

Yes, the nodules go away on their own because the body can heal Dupuytren’s disease!

How often does Dupuytren’s disease go away on its own?

Even so, in these simple one-line statements about Dupuytren’s disease self-healing, something is missing.  The reader has no idea how often the body is able to self-correct or naturally eliminate Dupuytren’s disease. In these four quotes – and all the others on the internet – the reader is not told if self-healing is fairly common or is it rare. Does Dupuytren spontaneous recovery happen once in a hundred cases, or once in a million?

It is almost as though medical writers do not want to admit the body can self-heal Dupuytren’s disease.  Like they want to say as little as possible about Dupuytren disease self-healing. As a result, people believe they have only two treatment choices for their hand nodule: drugs and surgery.

Self-healing far more common than people told   

For the most part, internet readers are not told how common or uncommon it is for the Dupuytren nodule to spontaneously self-heal.

However, in a 2005, a Journal of Hand Surgery (JHS) report and follow-up study appeared discussing the progression of Dupuytren nodules over a span of 6-15 years. It covered all the usual data of history, genetic tendency, physical findings and surgeries of 59 people in the middle and later stages of Dupuytren disease. This report is unique and important because it clearly states how many times Dupuytren disease self-repair happened within this group of 59 people. This is the only time DCI has found an author who placed a number on the frequency of Dupuytren’s self-healing.

Near the bottom of the report, the author states that 12% of the 59 people (seven people) had spontaneous remission or self-0helaing of Dupuytren palm lumps.  Even though these 59 people had Dupuytren’s disease that was bad enough that they saw a specialist about their hands, for 12% of them, the Dupuytren’s nodule resolved by self-repair or spontaneous healing.

Is 12% a small or large number?

Perhaps the 12% self-correction is not an impressive number to some readers. Some might even think 12% is a small number of people. Actually, that 12% number is huge. With this number we gain important insight into the course and behavior of Dupuytren disease.

This number represents the Dupuytren disease cases that were bad enough to be in a doctor’s office for evaluation and treatment, yet somehow self-healed.  If cases of DD that are bad enough to be seen by a doctor can clear up without help, what about minor and early cases of DD?  When DD is not much more than a curious little bump, can it also clear up by self-healing?  Of course!  And probably at a much higher percentage than just 12%.  When the palm lumps are smaller, softer and less well developed, would be a much better time and opportunity for this kind of self-repair to occur.

The average percentage of Dupuytren disease that self-heals is not knowable. There is no good way to collect this kind of information.  No one goes to a hand specialist to report a small palm lump that is gone.  Who would spend the time and money to see a doctor to report a tiny problem that healed itself and is not there?  For this reason, the number of early Dupuytren’s disease hands that self-correct can only be estimated.  Perhaps, 25-50%?  Anyone’s guess.

Regardless, it is important to know that Dupuytren disease self-cures happen.  Everyone with a Dupuytren’s nodule has some potential to heal it, especially in the early stages, and probably less so in the later stages.

>> How to start Dupuytren treatment with Alternative Medicine

Reasonable assumptions

We have seen that 12% of 59 people self-healed their Dupuytren’s disease during the middle and later stages. This happened without the benefit of any nutritional, physical therapy, stretching or enzyme treatment.  It happened spontaneously.  It seems reasonable to assume that if these same 59 people received adequate nutritional, physical therapy, stretching and enzyme treatment assistance during the middle and later stages of Dupuytren’s disease, the percentage of people who self-healed would have been larger.

Further, it seems reasonable that if 12% self-healed in the middle and later stages of DD, an even larger percent self-healed in the early stage. This would likely happen because in the early stage of Dupuytren disease the connective tissue mass in the palm is softer, smaller and less infiltrated with excess collagen and fibrin. As an example, it is reasonable to assume that a greater percentage of people self-heal their minor cold or sniffles while the problem is smaller, than when it gets worse and becomes pneumonia.

Lastly, DCI treatment verifies that people self-heal Dupuytren disease.  When people use the large DCI treatment plan, good things can happen. DCI receives 8-10 reports of moderate to marked improvement, even elimination, of the palm lump, for every one report of failure.

>> How to start Dupuytren treatment with Alternative Medicine

 

Garrod’s Pads Treatment and Dupuytren’s Contracture

Posted on by Dr. Herazy

Garrod’s Pads Treatment 

>> Testimonials for Dupuytren Contracture Institute

>> Dupuytren Contracture Treatment – FAQs

Garrod’s pads and Dupuytren’s contracture treatment

Garrod's pads are often associated with Dupuytren's contracture. Garrod's knuckle pads are a fibromatosis of the hand. They are also called Dupuytren nodules, and safely treated with natural alternative medicine and no side effects. Since 2002, Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute has worked with over 800 people whose primary complaint was Garrod’s pads. In addition, DCI notes that Garrod’s knuckle pads occur in combination with Dupuytren’s contracture in 20-30% of people who come to DCI for help.  Combined, these two groups total of over 2,000 people with Garrod’s pads who have used DCI treatment. They totally eliminated or significantly reduced their knuckle deformity, or at least eliminated all pain and limitation it causes.

Based on the reports of natural treatment progress from people DCI works with, the results are very good to excellent.  DCI receives 8-10 reports of moderate to marked improvement of palm lumps and cords for each failure reported, when using the DCI large treatment plan. Improvement of dense and painful knuckle pads is even better. In fact, we often tell people that Garrod’s pads typically improve before they notice a change in their DC.

Start  Dupuytren’s contracture treatment  

Usually, people who use a large DCI treatment plan report that their Garrod’s pads respond faster than their Dupuytren’s contracture.

The typical Garrod’s knuckle pad responds to the large DCI treatment plan by becoming smaller, softer, less painful, less dark, as well as the fingers feeling less stiff and painful, in a few weeks. Rarely do we work with someone whose Garrod’s nodules show some degree or type of improvement.  How long treatment takes to reach complete and final improvement depends on a variety of factors like genetic predisposition, severity, age of the individual, duration, if hand surgery was used previously, etc.

While a few got a small amount of improvement, most benefitted to a moderate to great degree. Of course, all treatment was safe and natural. Without drugs or surgery, and no side effects.

About Garrod’s knuckle pads

Typically, Garrod’s knuckle pads are well-defined and smooth lumps or thickening on the dorsal (back) of one or more finger joints.  Garrod’s nodules or pads are a form of fibromatosis (excess collagen and fibrin production), just like Dupuytren’s contracture (palmar fibromatosis), Ledderhose syndrome (plantar fibromatosis) and Peyronie’s disease (penile fibromatosis).

Our records show every person with Garrod’s pads benefitted in some way by our natural treatment methods.

Start  Dupuytren’s contracture treatment  

Clinical features

A history of repetitive injury to this part of the hand from work or sports activity is often present.  However, it sometimes happens that Garrod’s knuckles develop without any physical explanation.

Knuckle pads can look like calluses on the skin, where the skin thickens and loses its elasticity. The cause of Garrod’s pads is excess fibrous tissue (collagen and fibrin) in or under the skin. Because this problem is a fibromatosis of the fingers, it usually runs in families, but can also appear as a sporadic occurrence.

Garrod’s pads can appear in one or both hands, at any or all fingers, one joint or many.

They mainly affect the PIP finger joint (joint closest to the hand).  Less often they appear at a knuckle (MCP or metacarpophalangeal/first joint) or distal interphalangeal (DIP/third) joint of a finger. In severe cases, this dark, raised and rough tissue can also appear away from the knuckles, on the sides of the hand or elsewhere on the upper extremity.  Some clinicians even apply the name to other parts of the body.  Although the hands are by far most commonly affected, other areas and joints, such as the feet and knees, may be involved.

When appearing along with Dupuytren’s contracture, Garrod pads usually suggests a more aggressive form of the Dupuytren disease problem.

In the U.S and the rest of the world knuckle pads are a common occurrence.  The prevalence of knuckle pads is difficult to determine because this problem often does not cause physical symptoms.  Thus, people do not often seek medical care for them. Knuckle pads can be present in any age group, with the most common in adults 40 years of age and older, especially males who engage in heavy manual labor.

Pain associated with knuckle pads

Pain associated with Garrod’s pads is greatly variable. For some people there is no pain.  Most, and for others the pain is intense and constant.  Further, for some, pain is only when touched or when the finger moves. This suggests a connection between the Garrod’s pad and the tendon sheath of the finger.

When firm, the knuckle pads or nodules may be only tender to palpation, otherwise they do not cause pain or other symptoms.   These nodules are closely adherent to the skin in Dupuytren contracture while movement of the nodule during finger flexion/extension suggests an association with the tendon sheath.

Treatment for Garrod’s pads  

Treatment for Garrod’s pad makes sense when knuckle pads cause pair or otherwise affect the use of the hand.  Surgery can be considered after safer conservative natural DCI treatment has not been successful.  Please read about the DCI treatment protocol.

Start  Dupuytren’s contracture treatment  

 

 

Dupuytren’s Contracture Self-Help

Posted on by STL314

How to do Dupuytren’s contracture home treatment  

Dupuytren’s contracture self-help: 5 easy steps  

This website is all about Dupuytren’s contracture self-help.  Meaning, DCI helps people use do-it-yourself natural treatment strategies specifically for Dupuytren’s contracture.  However, the difference with DCI self-care is that you are not alone.  You will not have to guess about your Dupuytren’s contracture self-help.  Everything you need – all therapy products and information about them – is together, all in one place.  You will know what to do, when to do it, and how much to use.  That being the case, let DCI be your source for home treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture.

Since 2004, DCI has worked with 1000s of people doing Dupuytren’s contracture self-care.  We average 8-10 reports of moderate to marked success with Dupuytren’s contracture natural treatment, for every one report of failure – when doing Dupuytren’s contracture self-help as we suggest.

Using natural remedies for Dupuytren’s contracture self-directed treatment appeals to people.  Very often, however, they do not know how or where to begin.  They are not sure which, or how many, vitamins, mineral and enzymes to use.  DCI has all this figured out for you.  There is no guessing with the DCI method.  Best of all, each treatment plan comes with complete detailed information for the best results possible.

DCI Dupuytren’s self-care in a nutshell

Dupuytren's contracture self-help treatment in a nutshell is easy. Basically, the central idea of the DCI method is to “gang up” on the fibrous palm lump. Attack the problem from several different directions – with different kinds of therapies – at the same time.  This combines nutrients (coenzyme Q10, vitamin E, l-arginine etc.) for soft tissue healing, fibrin-eating enzymes, plus stretching, ultrasound, DMSO, etc.  Whatever medical science says helps heal Dupuytren’s contracture, we include in the mix.   No one else does Dupuytren’s contracture self-help like DCI.

There are no short cuts

The key to DCI home treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture is simple.  If you want the best results possible for your DC, do all five steps.

Remember, natural vitamins, minerals and enzymes are not forceful and dangerous drugs.  By comparison, these therapies are gentle.  They cannot make your body do anything.  Instead, they allow your body to work better by supplying those nutrients needed for thousands of healthful chemical reactions in the body.  This generous supply of various nutrients supports and encourages a stalled or slow DC healing process to work better.

Small, occasional or brief Dupuytren’s contracture self-help treatment will not get the job done.  Natural treatment works best when done as aggressively as possible.  Do not limit Dupuytren’s contracture home care to only what is convenient, easy or appeals to you.  Do all five steps, and do them faithfully and well.

5-steps for Dupuytren’s contracture self-help

  1. Get started – Select a plan                                                                                                       

HOW TO SELECT YOUR BEST SELF HELP TREATMENT PLAN

First, decide how you want to treat your problem.  This often comes down to deciding how much time, money and effort to devote to your recovery.  In addition, you should listen to your doctor’s opinion how to do home treatment for Dupuytren’s contracture.

Most people use one of the three DCI treatment plans – small, medium or large.  By far, the large treatment plan is the most popular.   A small percent of customers design their own unique plans.  Of these, they often add to or subtract from an existing plan to suit their needs.

Dupuytren’s contracture is a tough problem to treat.  Even small and early DC problems can be very stubborn and slow to respond.  In these cases, the large plan offers a great advantage based on the diversity of therapies, and earns faster results.  This can save time, money and effort in the long run.

Of course, there are reasons a person would want to use as few therapies as possible – cost being the most obvious.  A good strategy to reduce cost is to shorten treatment time and avoid hand surgery, by getting better results.  Repeatedly, we see good treatment results come to those who work hand and use a diverse and balanced mix of internal and external therapies.

See what you can accomplish first with conservative self-help treatment.  Do as much as you can, and be as aggressive as possible, for at least 3-4 months to give your hand enough time to respond.

For a great starting point to a select treatment plan.    HOW TO SELECT A SELF HELP TREATMENT PLAN

  1. Internal therapies

Taking MSM, nattokinase, PABA, acetyl-L-carnitine, etc., is a guarantee of taking everything the hand needs to eliminate the Dupuytren’s contracture lump and cord.   The broader and more diverse the internal therapies that are used, the better the results tend to be.

Science says these particular supplements found on the DCI website are involved in the Dupuytren’s contracture healing process.  They supply a wide variety of nutrients for the large and complex biological process of healing the DC palm lump and finger cord.  Give your tissue all the nutrients it needs.  Prepare your body to heal DC to the best of its ability.

Link – All Internal Therapies used in a Dupuytren’s contracture home treatment plan.

  1. External therapies

This refers to another layer of DC treatment applied directly to the palm, from the outside.  External therapies focus an entirely different kind of treatment directly to fibrous DC tissue.

DCI suggests using one or more external therapies:

  1. DMSO trio – Each is applied on top of the palm lump and finger cord to soften the thick fibrous tissue. Consists of:
  • DMSO – from the laboratory of Stanley Jacobs, MD, pioneer of DCSO research
  • Super CP Serum – Copper peptide
  • Vitamin E oil – high A. C. Grace quality as found in capsules
  1. Ultrasound – the non-drug treatment of choice for many soft tissue problems. Detailed instructions, easy to understand, come with each unit.

DCI offers a lightweight, portable, affordable 3 MHz ultrasound instrument.  It is popular for several reasons:

  • Good reports of effectiveness from users
  • No pain; comfortable to apply
  • Safe, no side effects
  • Do at home, anytime and day
  • Applied directly to the problem tissue
  • Easy to apply
  • Economical
  1. Moist heat – to increase circulation and soft fibrous tissue. Saturate a large towel with hot water and wring it out, or a moisture-proof heating pad applied to the hand.

Link – All External Therapies used in a Dupuytren’s contracture self-help plan

  1. Diet

This has nothing to do with losing weight. Keep it simple.  Avoid those foods that give you digestive trouble.  Keep your digestive tract happy. This will improve absorption of necessary nutrients for better health and healing.

  1. Avoid specific foods that bother you.  Examples:
  • Onions
  • Hot, spicy foods
  • Pizza
  • Alcohol
  • Sea food
  • Pickles
  • Nuts, etc.
  1. Avoid general or broad food categories that bother you.  Examples:
  • Gluten
  • MSG
  • Dairy
  • Caffeine
  • Sulfites
  • Lactose
  • Amines, etc.

  1. Stretching

Gently and frequently, stretch the tight palm tissues.  Think of it as gently coaxing the lump and cord to relax and lengthen.   Sneak up on it.

Link – Detailed information about gentle palm stretching for Dupuytren’s contracture.

Understanding Dupuytren’s contracture home treatment    

Dupuytren's contracture self-help strategies must be done faithfully and aggressively. What the medical profession says about using nutrition for Dupuytren’s contracture self-help comes from their drug research.

All standard medical research for nutrients is the same.  They test a single nutrient (MSM, PABA or vitamin E, etc.) as a solo or stand-alone therapy.  This is the same way they test powerful drugs.  Naturally, any nutrient tested this way fails, or does poorly.  Yet, they report it is a failure of the nutrient, when it is really their failure to understand the difference between how vitamins and drugs work.

For example, to evaluate the effectiveness of vitamin E against Dupuytren’s contracture, they test two large groups of people with DC.  One group receives vitamin E, or more likely a synthetic vitamin E.  The other group receives a sugar pill – a placebo.  Neither group knows if they are taking the vitamin E or the placebo.  At the end of the research, the hands of both groups are evaluated for changes. The purpose of doing it this way is to see what effect vitamin E – and only vitamin E – has on Dupuytren’s contracture.

Such research is faulty because nutrients exist and work in combinations with other nutrients.  No nutrient exists or operates alone anywhere in nature.   You cannot find a drop of pure vitamin E by itself in nature.  It does not happen that way.  All nutrients exist in large combinations because they work together in combinations.  Yet, medical research tests vitamins in isolation, each by itself.  One type or category of vitamin does not heal Dupuytren’s contracture.  A large group of vitamins, minerals and enzymes do.  Yet, all vitamins testing is done like this.  It does not make sense.

Medical opinion about Dupuytren’s contracture self-help   

A person cannot get information about natural Dupuytren’s contracture self-help in the average medical office.

MDs are experts who specialize in drugs and surgery.  However, they do not study nutrition.  Instead, they study chemistry as it relates to drugs. Thus, only a rare MD knows much about nutrition or natural healing.  If you ask your local MD about nutrition for Dupy, most likely you will be told, “Well, I guess you could try some vitamin E,” and not much more than that.  The average MD uses vitamin E like it is a drug.  Meaning, they use vitamin E all by itself.  As a solo therapy.it is expected to make a magical difference for a complex and difficult problem.  They use all nutrients this way.  That is why they get poor results with them, guaranteed.

For this reason, the average MD firmly believes that only drugs and surgery could possibly help Dupuytren’s contracture.   They believe that Dupuytren’s contracture home treatment is a waste of time.  Still, they deny the shortcomings of Dupuytren’s contracture drug treatment and hand surgery.

Currently, the only way to do natural Dupuytren’s contracture treatment is to do it yourself.  Many things in life are like this.  If you want something, sometimes you just have to do it yourself.   Good luck with your Dupuytren’s contracture self-help treatment.

For information about Peyronie’s disease.