I have a wonderful orthopedic surgeon who is a hand specialist. He chose this specialty because of this mother who had extreme hand pain. He wanted to help relieve this.

I have stage 4 osteoarthritis in both thumbs. The arthritis can't get worse, there is no cartilage left in the joint. What can be done easily is get cortisone injections and custom fit braces. This has helped a lot. I only wear the braces when doing something that I know will hurt or when I hurt. I've only had injections in each hand once.

In extreme cases, there is joint replacement surgery for the joint where the thumb meets the hand. I know someone who has had this done. This is not an easy recovery. I asked him when a patient knows when they want it. He said I would know...I won't be able to stand the pain.

He said the good news is that in many cases, the hand pain deteriorates, the older one gets.

I have had Lupus for 20 years and RA for 5 years. It is now starting to hit my hands on the Aug 2 I go to the Dr's I have to have 3 different surgeries on my right hand. My thumb my pointer finger and my wrist need to be worked on. I will be happy not to have has much pain but not happy with the time I will not be able to sew. My sister and Brother has RA too. My sister on Friday has to get 1 of her knees replace and then the other one later. So pray for her thanks Happy

I have arthritis in my left thumb/wrist joint which really bothers me a lot when I hand quilt. That's why I had to learn to machine quilt (I am still learning). But I have found that the machine quilting is just a hard on the hands/wrists. I find that pilates is the best thing for the aching hips, knees and elbows. A 30 minute walk sometime in the day also helps limber up the joints. And, my mother swears by green-lipped muscle extract gel for instant relief. (She has very bad arthritis in her feet, and she has had 3 - yes 3 - hip replacements.)

I, too, get up and move around. I also listen to audio books while I sew and find I stay at the tedious tasks longer.

OVER the past couple of year my arthritis (osteo) has been getting worse and worse. I find if I do not keep moving when I quilt then the session is really cut short. If I get up and move I can go for longer. It is less efficient sewing techniques but A QUILTER DOES WHAT A QUILTER HAS TO. I start each day with a yoga or exercise session. WHAT DO YOU TO KEEP YOURSELF SEWING?