Bump on palm of hand: first sign of Dupuytren’s contracture
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Finding a bump on the palm of the hand is not a guarantee of having Dupuytren contracture, although this is commonly how a person first discovers this problem. Sometimes pain in the palm of the hand or finger during activity, or stiffness that prevents the finger from completely straightening out are other early signs something is wrong. When it is possible to feel a bump on the palm of the hand that was never noticed before, it is a good indicator that a medical examination is justified, often leading to an eventual diagnosis of Dupuytren’s contracture.
By definition any time someone has a lump or nodule in the body, as with Dupuytren’s bump on the palm of the hand, it is consisted to be a hand tumor simply because it is a swelling or mass that does not belong in that location. The fact is, any abnormal lump or foreign bump is considered a tumor no matter the location or the eventual diagnosis. It is also correct for a tumor to be referred to as a “mass”.
“Tumor” does not mean that something is a cancer, only that it is a swelling that is not normal for the location it is in. Any swelling, nodule, lump or bump on the palm of the hand is a tumor regardless of the origin or cause of it. As in the case of Dupuytren contracture, it is not normal to find any bump on the palm of the hand, therefore it is called a tumor. The vast majority of hand tumors turn out to be non-cancerous, or benign. Any lump or bump in your hand is a tumor regardless of what causes it.
It is common for a hand tumor to appear on the skin surface (mole or a wart), or below the skin surface in the soft tissue (cyst or neuroma), even in the bone. With the wide variety of tissues found in the hand (skin, muscle, ligament, tendon, fat and bone), many types of tumors can occur. Most hand tumors are rare.
Hand tumors not related to Dupuytren contracture
The most common tumor found in both the hand and wrist is known as a ganglion cyst. This is simply a non-cancerous sac of thick gelatinous fluid that develop from a joint or tendon soft tissue sheath. The most common site for a ganglion cyst is at the wrist, usually on the top of the wrist, but can also be found around finger joints when they receive a great deal of stress and overwork . They form when a portion of the joint capsule or tendon sheath starts ballooning out, due to the increased internal pressure that develops during overwork, to later become filled with the lubrication fluid of that joint or tendon.
The second most common hand tumor is a giant cell tumor of a tendon sheath. Unlike the fluid-filled ganglion cyst, giant cell tumors are a densely solid and non-cancerous mass. They can occur anywhere there is a nearby tendon sheath, and begin as a benign, slow-growing mass that spreads laterally to great size through the soft tissue underneath the skin. The origin of the giant cell tumor is uncertain, but many suspect they are due to repeated injury that eventually stimulates the damaged tendon sheath to grow abnormally.
Another common tumor is the benign epidermal inclusion cyst that develops just below the surface of the skin, where it may have started by way of a cut or puncture. All skin cells normally produce a waxy protective material called keratin, as well as undergoing a common cycle in which these surface skin cells die and fall off (slough off). Even though skin cells can get trapped under the surface, they will continue to reproduce, die, slough off and make keratin. When this happens under the surface of the skin these dead skin cells and keratin are trapped underneath the skin and eventually a cyst is formed to contain the foreign material, growing larger over time in response to more trapped skin cells and keratin. Eventually, the benign epidermal inclusion cyst is filled with a foul smelling and cheesy substance, attached to the undersurface of the skin from where it arose.
Less common tumors develop in the hand, such as the lipoma (a fatty tumor), the neuroma (nerve sheath tumor), fibromas (filled with fibrous tissue), and glomus tumors (smooth muscle tumors) found at the toes and fingers. All of these are essentially benign, although somewhat painful.
Treatment for Dupuytren contracture
If your bump or lump on palm of the hand is Dupuytren contracture it should be treated soon using natural Alternative Medicine methods developed and tested by Dupuytren Contracture Institute since 2002. Learn more about hand lump treatment of Dupuytren contracture.
I was wondering is surgery the only means of correcting this Dupuytren’s contracture problem, and if I get surgery will it come back?
Greetings Diane,
Two good questions about Dupuytren’s contracture. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to explain.
There are many people who have Dupuytren’s contracture and it simply goes away on its own; the body heals the DC just like it heals a lot of health problems and injuries. We do not hear too much about them because they just go back to living their lives; they are difficult to find and study. Because of this, the Dupuytren’s Contracture Institute has worked since 2002 to develop a treatment protocol that can help people do a better job of healing their own DC. As a result, we have collected data that shows that 8-10 people report moderate to marked improvement of the size, shape, density and degree of contracture after using our treatment procedure, for every one report of failure. This shows that a rather large percent of people can be helped to do a better job of correcting their Dupuytren’s contracture if they help themselves with a wide array of Alt Med therapies. So, yes, there is something you can do for your palm lump and contracture, other than surgery. You can support your own natural healing capacity, and see what happens.
Hand surgery for Dupuytren’s contracture results in recurrence or return of the problem; it is just a matter of time. Some people have rapid recurrence, and others have slow recurrence. There is no way to tell ahead of time how long it will take for the DC to come back. I have heard of people whose DC might take 12-15 years to reappear, while others will be rather rapid. DCI statistics based on information we receive from men and women from around the world, shows that an average long recurrence is 8-10 years, while an average rapid recurrence is 12-18 months. We have had reports of some who say their DC started to return in just a few months after surgery. Further, our statistics show the average recurrence is 2.8 years. While that can be unsettling information for anyone, bear in mind that when Dupuytren’s contracture returns after surgery it will always be at a worse level or a greater or worse problem than before the surgery; hand surgery makes the DC worse because there is less normal and healthy tissue in the area and there is greater contracture and scar development as a result of the cutting; it is a downward spiral. Of those people who have multiple hand surgeries, they note the speed of recurrence increases and the degree of problem increases with each surgery. Finger or partial hand amputation is often eventually suggested in these extreme cases.
DCI feels it makes more sense to at least try for 3-4 months to see if a person can encourage and support their own natural healing of the DC contracture tissue, before having hand surgery. Better to be conservative, before something as radical and permanent as hand surgery.
Please let me know if I can help you in any way to work with your Dupuytren’s contracture. Good luck. TRH
I am 71 year old former piano player who now plays and practices golf 4 x /week…i.e.-a lot of squeezing the golf club. After visiting an ortho MD, 2 years ago for a broken left pinky finger (from a odd fall), I asked about the “small lumps” in the same hand. He suspected Dupuytren’s contracture, gave me a few finger stretches, a recommended I come back if it worsened. I have no real “contracture” yet, but when I make a fist with my left hand, I notice a pronounced trigger finger snap in my middle finger that is somewhat painful. Curiously, 15 years ago, I had surgery to release a trigger thumb.
My questions are: 1) can DC cause trigger fingers; and, 2) are your natural treatments effective in addressing my condition? Thank You.
Greetings Ronald,
Sorry to hear about your Dupuytren’s contracture. Playing the piano and golf are two common activities that lead to DC. There is a reason for that. To understand how you can reduce some of your current golf-related hand and arm stress, please read an article I wrote for the DCI website Musicians with Dupuytren’s Contracture. Even though it is written about playing music, the information can be extrapolated for playing golf.
Yes, Dupuytren’s contracture can cause a trigger finger problem. The fibrous tissue in the palm can cause inflammation around the tendon sheaths, resulting in swelling and sticking instead of smooth gliding. When people undergo the DCI natural treatment protocol, one of the first outward signs of improvement of the DC is often the reduction or elimination of the trigger finger they have.
Lastly, you have not mentioned anything about your Dupuytren’s contracture that would give a reason you might not respond favorably to the natural DC treatment method. People like you report moderate to marked success with their Dupuytren’s contracture in 8-10 cases, for each one person who reports no improvement. Thee is only one way to know if you can help yourself heal your DC, and that is to try.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions, Ronald. TRH