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Heberden's Nodes
  Heberden's Nodes
 Contributing risk factors
 Treatment recommendations
 


When osteoarthritis affects your hands, bony knobs called nodes may develop on your joints, giving your fingers and thumbs a gnarled appearance. Nodes that appear on the joint closest to your fingernail are known as Heberden's nodes; those that appear on the middle joint are called Bouchard's nodes.

Causes & Development

Heberden's nodes and Bouchard's nodes usually take years to develop, although they can sometimes appear within a period of weeks or months.

Signs & Symptoms
The affected finger and thumb joints may feel painful or stiff at first, although the pain usually subsides within time. For some people, the pain is gone in as early as a few months, and for others it make take a couple of years. However, the bony knobs will remain.





Risk factors for Heberden's Nodes:
Musculo-Skeletal  Osteoarthritis
 The symptoms of osteoarthritis usually begin slowly and may be mild at first. The pain is usually worse after a lot of activity or during movement after long periods of inactivity. You may feel discomfort in the joint before or during a change in the weather. You may also have swelling and loss of flexibility in the joint. Over time, the cartilage that serves as a cushion between the bones may completely wear away, causing the bones to rub against each other. This can cause the bone ends to thicken and form bony growths or spurs. In the fingers these bony lumps are called Bouchard's or Heberden's nodes.

Recommendations and treatments for Heberden's Nodes:
Surgery/Invasive  Surgery
 In some cases, surgery may be required in order to correct or prevent joint deformity, relieve pain and improve movement.

Vitamins
  Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
 In Heberdens nodes and index finger, doses of B6 at 100-150mg per day may not work unless you eat one handful of raw pecans a day (i.e. you need both) says one Dr. Goodheart. Nodes may not go away but pain and mobility may be much better over several weeks.


KEY
Strong or generally accepted link
May do some good


GLOSSARY

Cartilage
Specialized fibrous connective tissue that forms the skeleton of an embryo and much of the skeleton in an infant. As the child grows, the cartilage becomes bone. In adults, cartilage is present in and around joints and makes up the primary skeletal structure in some parts of the body, such as the ears and the tip of the nose.

Heberden's Nodes
Bony swellings around the margins of joints, associated with degenerative changes of arthritis.

Milligram (mg, Milligrams)
0.001 or a thousandth of a gram.

Osteoarthritis (Osteoarthritic)
A condition involving degeneration of cartilage and supporting joint tissue, which results in pain, swelling and reduced mobility, as the cartilage wears away and allows bone to rub against bone.

Vitamin B6 (B6, B-6)
Influences many body functions including regulating blood glucose levels, manufacturing hemoglobin and aiding the utilization of protein, carbohydrates and fats. It also aids in the function of the nervous system.




Last updated: Jun 15, 2008
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