The Arthritis Foundation estimates that about half of all women and a quarter of men will experience hand pain because of osteoarthritis — when the protective cartilage between bones wears down — by age 85. But there are ways to ease the ache.
Hand pain and stiffness are typical with osteoarthritis. “The base of the thumb is one of the most common places in the entire body to develop osteoarthritis,” says Jacob Tulipan, an orthopedic hand surgeon at Rothman Orthopaedic Institute at AtlantiCare in Egg Harbor Township, N.J.
