Can Low Dose Radiation Help My Thumb Pain and Rhizarthrosis?

If your thumb hurts when you grip things or move your hand, you may have a condition called rhizarthrosis. This is another name for thumb arthritis. Doctors have been looking at a special treatment called low dose radiation therapy. This article explains a study that tested this treatment on 25 people with painful thumb arthritis.

Here are three important things to know:

• Low dose radiation therapy helped most people feel less pain in their thumbs.
• The treatment worked better for reducing pain than for improving how much the thumb can move.
• Doctors need to do bigger studies to be sure this treatment really works.

What is Rhizarthrosis and Why Does It Hurt?

Many people with this condition find it hard to open jars. Writing can become painful. Even turning a key in a lock may hurt. The pain can happen during the day or even when you rest.

You may be wondering why this matters. Pain in your thumb affects almost everything you do with your hands. Finding a treatment that really works can make daily life much easier.

What is Low Dose Radiation Therapy?

Low dose radiation therapy is a treatment that uses very small amounts of radiation. Doctors call it LD-EBRT. That stands for low dose external beam radiotherapy. The word external means the radiation comes from a machine outside your body. The word beam means it is aimed at one specific spot.

This is not the same kind of radiation used for cancer. The dose is much smaller. Doctors have used this treatment for many years to help with pain in joints.

Here is where it gets interesting. Some older studies said this treatment worked well. But two recent studies gave mixed results. That is why researchers wanted to do this new study. They wanted clear answers.

What Did This Study Find?

The researchers followed 25 people who had painful thumb arthritis. Each person got six treatments of low dose radiation over a few weeks. Then the doctors checked how they were doing at three months and again at 12 months.

The doctors measured two types of things. They asked patients how they felt. These are called subjective endpoints. They also measured things they could see and touch. These are called objective endpoints.

Let us look closer at what they found.

How Much Did Pain Improve?

According to this study, most people felt better after the treatment. At three months, 80% of people said their pain was partly better. Another 4% said their pain was completely gone.

At 12 months, 57% still had partial relief. And 18% said they had complete pain relief. That means their thumb did not hurt anymore.

Research shows that pain scores dropped in a meaningful way. Patients rated their pain on a scale from zero to ten. Zero means no pain at all. Ten means the worst pain you can imagine.

The researchers also asked about pain during exercise. They asked about pain during the day. They asked about how well the thumb worked. All of these scores got better too.

One tool they used is called the PRWE score. That stands for patient rated wrist evaluation. It is a questionnaire that asks how much pain you have and how hard it is to do daily tasks. Medical evidence found that this score improved from 0.5 at the start to 0.27 after one year. Lower scores mean less pain and better function.

Did Thumb Movement Get Better?

This is an important question. Pain got better for most people. But what about how much the thumb could move? What about grip strength?

According to this study, most of the physical measurements did not change much. Doctors measured active range of motion. That means how far patients could move their thumb on their own. They also used something called the Kapandji index. This measures how well you can touch your thumb to different fingers and parts of your hand.

Studies indicate that grip strength did not improve. Pinch grip did not get stronger either. The only movement that got better was flexion. Flexion means bending the thumb forward. It improved from 64 degrees to 73 degrees after one year.

You may be wondering why pain improved but movement did not. The researchers think the radiation helps calm down inflammation. Inflammation is swelling and irritation in the joint. When inflammation goes down, pain goes down. But the worn cartilage and bone changes do not heal. So strength and movement stay about the same.

What Happens Next in Research?

This study gave doctors helpful information. But it was a small study. Only 25 people took part. And everyone got the treatment. No one got a fake treatment to compare.

Here is where it gets interesting. The researchers used the results from this study to plan a bigger study. They did some math. They figured out how many people would need to join a study to prove that this treatment really works better than a fake treatment.

Research shows that 750 patients would need to be part of a randomized study. Randomized means some people would get the real treatment and some would get a pretend treatment. Then doctors could compare the results. This kind of study gives the most trustworthy answers.

The researchers also said the PRWE score is a good tool to use in future studies. It measures both pain and function. Patients find it easy to fill out. And it shows changes clearly.

About This Site

This website is here to help you understand thumb pain and rhizarthrosis. We take complex medical studies and turn them into simple language. Every article is based only on published scientific research. We never make things up or guess. Our goal is to give you clear, honest information so you can talk with your doctor and make good choices. Feel free to explore more articles on our site.

Common Questions

Is low dose radiation therapy safe for thumb arthritis?

According to this study, 25 patients received low dose radiation therapy and were followed for one year. The researchers did not report any serious safety problems. The doses used were very small compared to cancer treatment. However, this study was designed to look at how well it works, not mainly at safety. Larger studies are needed to fully understand safety over many years.

How long does it take to feel better after this treatment?

Research shows that most people started to feel better within three months. At that point, 80% of patients reported that their pain was partly better. By 12 months, 18% had complete pain relief. Pain scores dropped from seven out of ten before treatment to two out of ten after one year.

Will my thumb get stronger after low dose radiation therapy?

Studies indicate that grip strength and pinch strength did not improve in this study. Most physical measurements stayed about the same. The only movement that improved was thumb flexion, which increased by about nine degrees. The treatment seems to work better for reducing pain than for improving strength or movement.

How many treatments do you need?

According to this study, patients received six treatments. Each treatment delivered 0.5 Gray of radiation. The treatments were spread out over a period of time, though the abstract does not say exactly how many days or weeks.

Bottom Line

Low dose radiation therapy may help reduce pain in people with thumb arthritis. According to this study, most people felt better after treatment. Pain scores dropped significantly. Daily activities became easier. But strength and movement did not improve much.

This was a small study. Bigger studies are needed to be sure this treatment really works. Researchers now know they need 750 people in a randomized study to get clear answers.

If you have painful thumb arthritis, talk with your doctor. Ask about all your treatment options. This study gives hope that low dose radiation therapy might help. But more research is still happening.

You deserve to live without constant thumb pain. Keep asking questions. Keep learning. And work with your medical team to find what works best for you.

Important Information

This article is for educational purposes only. It is not medical advice. It does not replace talking with your doctor. Every person is different. What works for one person may not work for another. Always talk with a qualified healthcare provider before starting any new treatment. Only your doctor can give you advice that is right for your specific situation.

Research Source

This article is based on the following published study:

Hermann, R. M., Trillmann, A., Becker, J. N., Kaltenborn, A., Nitsche, M., & Ruettermann, M. (2021). Prospective Evaluation of Low-Dose External Beam Radiotherapy (LD-EBRT) for Painful Trapeziometacarpal Osteoarthritis (Rhizarthrosis) on Pain, Function, and Quality of Life to Calculate the Required Number of Patients for a Prospective Randomized Study. Medical Sciences, 9(4), 66.

https://doi.org/10.3390/medsci9040066