Hi all,
I am 69, woodworker, climber for fun and exercise, and have relied on my pinch strength for most of my life - I am always holding odd-shaped items with my left hand while working on them with tools in my right. I imagine as a consequence, my arthritis struct my left hand first. After extensive research on the carpometacarpal joint function, I decided on the Stablyx implant as the most reasonable joint rebuild. LRTI, Tight Rope, Speed Spiral, were just not what I wanted. Grip strength is fine and appears to be maintained in each of these, but I needed more. I also feel that the Bio Pro produced a different joint function. Guess I want as much original function as I can get.
So, last week I had the Stablyx procedure done at UCSF. So far so good, but it's been less than a week. I'm on anti-inflamatory only, and my pain level is less than it was prior to surgery. I understand the lack of post-op data available (Why won't Mayo post its Stablyx clinical trial data?), but I had several conversations with traditional surgeons who admitted that pinch strength would be lost. That was enough for me to take a chance on this procedure.
I normally do not do blogs, but if there is interest, I can periodically update my (hopefully) progress.
GregV