Hand arthritis and riding

[2bayboys]

I have arthritis at the base of my thumbs that’s been steadily worsening for years. I just got both of them injected this week for the first time. I wear Back on Track fingerless gloves during the day and braces at night, plus daily turmeric and OTC pain relief as needed.

I’m looking for ideas to make riding more comfortable for as long as possible. Gripping the reins for any length of time is painful. I don’t ride horses anymore that are heavy or that pull, and I’ve switched to web reins with stoppers to make holding the reins easier. (I show hunters and I was worried about using non conventional reins but I decided to hell with it, I’m going to do whatever I can to keep going.)

Any thoughts for adaptive riding techniques or alternative therapies are welcome!

[Jackie_Cochran]

I had some osteo-arthritis in my finger joints from too much high speed 10-key. I was taking 6 aspirins a day.

Evening Primrose oil worked on this, I stopped taking aspirin for my hand pain. Evening Primrose oil is a prime source for the Omega-6 GLA fatty acid, the ONLY Omega-6 that reduces inflammation. All other Omega-6 fatty acids seem to promote inflammation. It reduced my inflammation in the finger joints quite well, and since I got on disability many years ago (MS) the pain never came back and I stopped having problems with pain and stiffness even though I stopped the Evening Primrose oil over 20 years ago.

[cayuse]

Would bridging your reins help? I have arthritis in my hands, both thumbs are pretty bad in the same area as yours. I do not ride anymore but do a lot of driving and have found bridging the reins gives me more stability. I know you probably can’t do this in the show ring, but it may help at home.
Good luck with the injections, I have had them and it took a couple of weeks for the full effect to be seen.

[IPEsq]

Talk to a doctor about Voltaren (topical NSAID, people brand of Surpass). I think there is a generic now but it is Rx in the US. I broke a finger and the surgeon was in favor of me using it (I already had it for ankle arthritis). Doesn’t have the side effects of pills.

[Ceylon_Star]

Voltaren Emulgel is a super effective topical analgesic for targeting painful areas like hands and knees. I use it often for various pain flare ups, and between Voltaren and good old Rub A535 I can function reasonably well with chronic pain.

Another option for reins that may be useful for you is to find some reasonably wide plain leather reins and fit them with somewhat snug running martingale stops that you can hold in your hand/between your fingers for a little extra grip without necessarily needing to close your thumbs. You can then slide them along the rein to shorten or lengthen them as needed, and the grip isn’t super visible to the judge. This may also work on rubber lined leather reins, depending on the specific rein/stopper combo.

[2bayboys]

@Ceylon Star

Voltaren Emulgel is a super effective topical analgesic for targeting painful areas like hands and knees. I use it often for various pain flare ups, and between Voltaren and good old Rub A535 I can function reasonably well with chronic pain.

Another option for reins that may be useful for you is to find some reasonably wide plain leather reins and fit them with somewhat snug running martingale stops that you can hold in your hand/between your fingers for a little extra grip without necessarily needing to close your thumbs. You can then slide them along the rein to shorten or lengthen them as needed, and the grip isn’t super visible to the judge. This may also work on rubber lined leather reins, depending on the specific rein/stopper combo.

I actually have used Voltaren with limited success. If I put it on my hands at bedtime I still get woken up in the middle of the night with pain. 😩

Ceylon, that is a brilliant idea to use the martingale stops and I’m going to try that!

[Ceylon_Star]

@2bayboys

I actually have used Voltaren with limited success. If I put it on my hands at bedtime I still get woken up in the middle of the night with pain. 😩

Ceylon, that is a brilliant idea to use the martingale stops and I’m going to try that!

We use the martingale stops for a couple of our riders at the therapeutic barn my pony is at. They are useful for riders with smaller hands who need more grip than plain rainbow reins, but can’t grasp our other style of grips (bike handle grips over rainbow web reins, so relatively thick), or for those who are particularly tight/spastic but can’t close enough to hold regular reins securely enough. We also have various styles of loop and ladder reins, but they get used less than the rainbow reins (plain and/or with grips)

We have an additional set of rainbow web reins set up with martingale stops above and below each leather notch that corresponds with the colour of that section of the rainbow rein (so there are 2 rubber stoppers where the colours touch/change) so that riders can have their hands between the rubber stoppers instead. This is much more obtrusive looking, so wouldn’t likely work for you at all, but is another example of how useful rubber stoppers are, beyond their intended purpose. Haha