Nighttime finger splints can ease arthritis pain

By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Inexpensive splints worn nightly can reduce the pain of hand osteoarthritis, a chronic ailment that affects a majority of older adults, a new study shows. “It’s a well-tolerated, safe and cheap intervention,” rheumatologist Dr. Fiona Watt told Reuters Health. Watt, from the Arthritis Research UK Centre for Osteoarthritis Pathogenesis at the University of Oxford, led the new study. She and her colleagues tested custom-made splints on London clinic patients who suffered painful and deforming hand osteoarthritis.