{"id":1795,"date":"2021-05-05T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T00:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webdev.sydney.edu.au\/kolling\/?post_type=news&#038;p=1795"},"modified":"2026-03-12T14:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T03:16:48","slug":"a-simple-mix-of-treatments-holds-the-key-to-better-hand-function","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/news\/a-simple-mix-of-treatments-holds-the-key-to-better-hand-function\/","title":{"rendered":"A simple mix of treatments holds the key to better hand function"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The base of our thumb may just be a small part of our hand, but osteoarthritis in that area can have a significant impact, making the simplest tasks difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The condition especially affects post-menopausal women, with figures indicating up to a third of women over 70 have this type of osteoarthritis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increasing numbers of people are experiencing the condition, and yet current treatments still leave patients with limited use of their hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Researchers from the Kolling\u2019s, Institute of Bone and Joint have completed a clinical trial finding a combined approach of education, a splint to support the thumb, hand exercises and a pain relief gel, were a promising lead in helping people regain hand function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 200 people, in two groups, were involved in the COMBO study, which assessed pain and hand function, grip strength, thumb base stiffness, and overall quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>After six weeks, there was increased hand function for people who undertook the treatments and exercises compared to the control group.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>After 12 weeks, participants also reported a better quality of life and reduction in pain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Senior author Professor David Hunter said many older adults affected by thumb base osteoarthritis feel there is nothing that can be done for the condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThis trial demonstrates clinically beneficial effects on hand function with readily available interventions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt indicates a simple mix of treatments can improve range of hand motion and make daily tasks, like opening a door or picking up an object, easier.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, was led by the Kolling Institute\u2019s Dr Leticia Deveza and Sarah Robbins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cPrevious studies on combined treatments in thumb base osteoarthritis have provided conflicting results,\u201d said Dr Deveza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTo our knowledge, ours is the first study to investigate a combination of treatments in thumb base osteoarthritis, and importantly, we\u2019ve found a solution that could be of clinical benefit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1796,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-1795","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsletters"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop-300x207.webp",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_Hand-oa_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The base of our thumb may just be a small part of our hand, but osteoarthritis in that area can have a significant impact, making the simplest tasks difficult. The condition especially affects post-menopausal women, with figures indicating up to a third of women over 70 have this type of osteoarthritis. Increasing numbers of people&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5261,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1795\/revisions\/5261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}