Dear Dr Herazy,
Thanks for your website, I find it to be a helpful and positive source of interesting information.  I have a couple of questions if you have time.
I was diagnosed with Dupuytren hand contracture early this year. At that time both hands hand small lumps and had some pain.  In the last week I noticed the right hand is getting worse faster and the little finger and ring finger are not as easy to straighten.
I’m doing two things at the moment, deep rubbing and stretching the lumps on my palms and forcing my fingers straight, and applying Vit E ointment. Are there any problems doing this, and what more can i do to help myself?

Regards
Andrew

Greetings Andrew,

Yes, there could be a huge problem with what you are doing.  Please stop doing that aggressive rubbing and stretching of the palm lumps, and do not forcefully stretch or straighten your fingers.  This is not a good way to treat your Dupuytren problem.  Applying vitamin E by itself to the palm of hand over the nodules and Dupuytren cords is not very effective.  When vitamin E is applied without DMSO to drive it into the tissue the vitamin E oil will not get in deep enough to benefit you.  While it might not harm you, it is not doing you much good as you are applying the vitamin E incorrectly.

I know you might think it makes sense to forcefully reverse and straighten your bent fingers, but you could be easily hurting yourself.  By aggressively reversing the flexed finger position it is possible to over-stretch, irritate, tear and even rupture the tendon sheaths related to the fingers that are involved in your Dupuytren contracture.   You could injure yourself by trying to force the deep palmar soft tissue to do things it is not ready or capable of doing at this time. These things take time to be done correctly.

To work with the deep and superficial soft tissue of your hands requires a special technique that will get the job done and at the same time avoid injury.  It is now mid-2011 and I am about half way finished working on a book that will explain the safe and effective way of doing soft tissue work on your Dupuytren contracture without injuring yourself.   Please look for the book in early 2012, titled, “Dupuytren Contracture Handbook.”

Rubbing vitamin E oil by itself is not very effective, and used without DMSO to drive it into the tissue is not getting in deep enough to benefit you.  Please read the website page about DMSO to learn why you should not use vitamin E alone to treat your palm lumps.

Please spend some time reading whatever interests you on the Dupuytren Contracture Institute website.  Learn how to conduct a safe and effective Alternative Medicine treatment plan for Dupuytren contracture.

TRH