How to Know When Your RA Changes Your Hands

Rheumatoid arthritis is a condition in which there is inflammation in the small joints of the legs and hands. It can affect the joints by causing painful swelling, joint erosion and bone deformity. Certain changes can be observed in the hands when they become affected by rheumatoid arthritis.

Instructions

How to Know When RA Changes Your Hands

• 1

  Examine your hands for deformities. Various deformities, such as swan neck deformity and ulnar deviation, occur in the hands due to rheumatoid arthritis. Observe your fingers for odd positioning like bending of the joints closest to your nails, which indicates swan neck deformity of the hands, or bending of your fingers toward your pinkie finger, which is called ulnar deviation deformity of the hands.

• 2

  Check your hands for stiffness, redness, heat, pain or swelling. The presence of any of these symptoms in your hands may be an effect of rheumatoid arthritis. This is due to the inflammatory effect of rheumatoid arthritis.

• 3

  Determine how functional your hands are. You need your hands to do a variety of activities on a daily basis. Check to see how many of these activities are difficult or impossible for you to do. If you find that you cannot perform activities you were formerly able to do, then your hands may be affected by rheumatoid arthritis.