Categories: Aids For Hands

Therapeutic Gloves for Arthritis – Do They Work?

Does pain in your hands keep you from enjoying your hobbies? Therapeutic gloves for arthritis might be able to ease that pain. They are designed to help reduce the pain and swelling in your hands which then in turn can increase your mobility. They are often recommended by occupational therapists to help with the symptoms. Many people, including myself, have found relief from the pain and enjoyed more mobility by using these arthritic hand gloves.

They can be excellent if you like to do activities like typing, knitting, crocheting, sewing, any kind of movement that is repetitive. All of those activities take a lot of hand movement. What I find is that the gloves are kind of like massaging my hands as I work. Before I started using them, there were times I could not crochet or sew because my hands were in so much pain. Wearing the arthritis gloves have made it possible for me to enjoy my hobbies again.

* This post may contain affiliate links for which I earn commissions.* ** All comments and recommendations are my own and should not be taken as medical advice. **

Use While Sleeping or Working

Therapeutic gloves for arthritis can be used in two ways. Recommendations are that it is best to use the gloves around eight hours a day. You can either wear the gloves while you are sleeping or relaxing in the evening, which is a good option. Or you can use the gloves while you are doing your day to day activities. Each has its advantages. A lot of tasks like cooking or gardening can get the gloves kind of dirty so that makes it difficult to wear them while you are working.

The advantages of wearing them at night while you sleep are that the gloves stay clean and you get a good solid eight hours of wear which should be very beneficial in reducing your symptoms. Personally, I use them while I am typing, crocheting and sewing. Then I wash them periodically.

Types of Therapeutic Gloves for Arthritis

There are different types of therapeutic gloves for arthritis so you need to determine which type might work best for you. There are copper compression gloves, full finger compression gloves, fingerless compression gloves and full finger compression gloves. So how do you know what type is best for you?

These are some things to think about. Where is your pain? For example, my pain is in the big knuckles where the fingers attach to the hand. So basically any of the styles would work for me.

If your pain is in the finger knuckles, then you may want to try either a full finger arthritis glove or half finger arthritis gloves. There are many varieties available and I have actually written separate articles highlighting some of the best rated therapeutic gloves for arthritis.

Fingerless Arthritis Gloves – Could They Ease Your Pain

Another option to consider is copper. Copper gloves are a type of therapeutic gloves that are designed to help alleviate arthritis pain and discomfort. The concept behind copper gloves for arthritis is that the copper ions in the fabric can penetrate the skin and reduce inflammation, which is a major contributor to arthritis pain. However, keep in mind that there are no scientific studies to back up these theories.

Fortunately, adding copper to the gloves doesn’t seem to really increase the price. So if you want to try copper arthritis gloves you could do so without it costing you an arm and a leg more. Again, I have written a separate article highlighting just the copper arthritis gloves.