The story of Duncan
My name is Duncan from Scotland and I’m 50 years old. I live an active and healthy lifestyle and have dupuytren’s contracture (dc) in both hands. The middle finger of my right (dominant) hand has a thickened cord which I’ve had for around 25 years. The finger is bent a few degrees from straight and its progression has been extremely slow. In my left hand all four fingers have nodules in the palm and the palm itself feels tight and sometimes sore. This has developed quite rapidly over the last few years although all fingers remain straight. The nodules in my left hand can be more noticeable on some days than others although the general progression seems to be stable.
Around four years ago I shifted my fitness to parkour/free-running as it seemed more in tune with my own development of moving more naturally and using the environment around me to train in. As part of that I am continuing to grow my knowledge about my body’s physical health and how it works. Note that the following are my thoughts and experiences and I’m not medically or physically qualified.
While movement for parkour is quite wide ranging there are moves where some or all of the body weight is borne by the hands – these include vaulting, quadrupedals (moving on all fours mimicking animals) and handstands etc.
During the last few years I have experienced some discomfort/pain in my hands during training with the requirement to bear weight on them. Sometimes at night I have woken up in pain from my hands following a training session. As my training has progressed I have been looking for solutions to this and for me stretching my hands/fingers is now providing some relief. Kit Laughlin on Youtube has a good stretching routine for hands/fingers and even mentions dc but frustratingly doesn’t go on to expand on this. I have found that the individual finger stretch including the forearm with the stretch-contract-stretch routine done a few times before I need to take weight on my hands is sufficient to allow me to train with minimal discomfort and also no discomfort during the night. I have now been doing this for around nine months. I’m aware of the advice not to stretch but I’m finding out what works for me to allow me to continue pursuing my interest in parkour.
It’s been noted that some climbers with dc seem to experience greater issues with the disease. This is almost logical as the grip required for climbing is working in conjunction with the progression of the disease. Also noted is that a similar disease affects the feet however the contracture and nodules can be significantly less. It is thought that the regular weight bearing movement of the feet works against the progression of the disease. While we no longer move using our hands there is a resurgence in interest in moving on all fours for parkour/free running and the more contemporary fitness industry working to improve overall body mobility. There is an interesting book called Move Your DNA from Katy Bowman (she explains human bio-mechanics in everyday language) that talks about how our body is continually adapting to the stimulus we give it. Could some weight bearing exercise on the hands help reduce the impact of early stages dc?
On another note Louise Hay wrote a book called ‘You Can Heal Your Life’. This suggests that every dis-ease in the body can be attributed to possible negative thought patterns like fear, anger, resentment etc. from earlier experiences. While there is no specific mention of dc there is a mention of issues with hands and they could be affected by how we handle things in life. Furthermore we hold onto things with our hands and dc can have a grip-like effect. Perhaps we need to figure out what we need to let go of or handle better in life. I’m happy to meditate on that. Oh and just because dc is a progressive dis-ease there is no reason why it can’t be a regressive dis-ease – just look how we’re starting to turn the tables on cancer.
I eat a wide-ranging reasonably healthy diet and the only supplement I take is a daily multi-vitamin / mineral tablet. I just wanted to add my experience of the condition along with my training which to a certain extent depends on having healthy hands.