[Rehabilitation of the rheumatoid hand]

Treatment of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is complicated and it consists mainly of applying general measures, medical therapy, physical therapy and rehabilitation, and, if necessary, surgical - orthopedic measures. The treatment is conducted as team work and it lasts for years. The chronic and evolutionary character of the disease requires a rather dynamic effort against the onset of joint deformation as well as the constant follow up of the evolution of the disease, and the local condition of the joints. Within the examined group of a hundred patients with classical and definitive rheumatoid arthritis, formed deformations of hand joints were registered in 72% of patients by means of clinical examination. Preventive measures against joint deformation make an integral part of rheumatoid arthritis patient treatment. Their application starts from the moment when the diagnosis is made and lasts as long as the disease does.