[Heberden arthroses in judo athletes]

Increased occurrence of Heberden nodes has been observed in judo practitioners. Nine out of 30 members of the Swiss national team showed such nodes clinically on several fingers, whereas sportsmen in other disciplines did not. X-ray showed that all judokas examined have more or less severe osteoarthrosis of the distal interphalangeal joints (DIP), whether Heberden nodes were present or not. At the same time, in most cases osteoarthrosis of the proximal interphalangeal joints (PIP) was found by X-ray and clinical examination. Osteoarthrosis of DIP and PIP in this young age group is due to overstress and injury to the joints involved. Acute injuries to the finger joints evidently cause Heberden nodes with, in some instances, only minor osteoarthrotic lesions visible by X-ray, while overstress of DIP and PIP is the cause of osteoarthrosis in these joints, which is only detectable by X-ray.