Dupuytren's disease: a legacy of the north?

This study identifies four miracle cures set in Orkney and Iceland in the 12th and 13th Centuries and recorded in the sagas of the earls of Orkney and the bishops of Iceland, in which the condition of the hand which was healed bears a resemblance to Dupuytren's disease. The possibility that one hand was cured by traumatic rupture of this condition and another treated by palmar fasciotomy is discussed.