What We Treat

Arthritis treatment in Vancouver.

The jar lid that won’t budge. The morning ache that takes an hour to loosen. You can protect these joints and keep them working, and it starts with a cause-first evaluation, not a guess.

Thumb arthritis Hand osteoarthritis Morning stiffness Talk to a Specialist

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • A deep ache at the base of the thumb when you pinch or grip
  • Stiff, achy hands for the first hour after you wake up
  • A jar lid or a key your hand just won’t turn anymore
  • Swollen, tender knuckles that flare after a busy day
  • Pinch too weak to trust with a button or a zipper
  • Skipping hobbies you love because your hands pay for it later

Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Happens

Arthritis is more than wear and tear.

Arthritis in the hand is more than worn cartilage. The joints get stiff and inflamed, the muscles around them weaken, and sore joints end up loaded in ways that make it worse. Each piece feeds the next, and the ache slowly narrows what your hands will do.

We can’t reverse the arthritis, but that’s rarely the point. A cause-first evaluation, one-on-one with a Certified Hand Therapist, finds which joints drive your pain and how you’re loading them. Then we protect them, ease the stiffness, and keep your hands working. Ignore it, and the joints you rely on keep giving ground.

Person with arthritis pain holding their own hand and wrist

The Honest Truth

Arthritis doesn’t pause while you wait.

If you keep waiting

  • Stiff joints get used less, and the muscles that protect them fade
  • You quietly hand off tasks, and your hands lose the strength they had
  • Flare-ups stack up, and good days get harder to string together

If you start this week

  • You learn which joints to protect and how, starting visit one
  • A custom splint and simple swaps that take the load off the ache
  • You get a plan with an endpoint: a real one, not an open tab of visits

Nobody regrets starting too early. Every week, someone in our clinic says they regret waiting.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Built for your joints.

Every plan has an endpoint. Here’s what the four phases look like for arthritic hands.

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Calm the ache down.

Joint protection, a custom splint, and gentle techniques ease the stiffness and swelling, starting your very first visit.

Weeks 2–6

Prime

Loosen the stiff joints.

Gentle mobility work restores what motion the joints will give, without flaring them up.

Weeks 6–10

Perform

Build strength around the joint.

Careful strengthening supports the aching joints so daily tasks stop costing you.

Weeks 10+

Prevent

Keep your hands working.

Activity strategies and joint protection get built into your day so you hold the ground you gained: that’s the endpoint, not just another appointment.

Amazing care, compassion and professionalism. Thank you, Andy, for the helping hand.

Shared by Ben S. · Hand & arm care

Before: mornings started with stiff, aching hands

Now: easier grip, with joints protected day to day

Hand arthritis Guided plan

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

Compensation patterns often show up nearby. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Numbness, tingling, and a grip that fades right when you need it.

Learn More 2

Tendinitis

Reaching overhead or gripping flares a tendon that will not calm down.

Learn More 3

Nerve Pain

Burning, tingling, or numbness down your arm that no one has explained.

Learn More

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking for hand arthritis.

Not cure it, and any honest clinic will tell you the same. What hand therapy can do is real: ease the stiffness, protect the joints that hurt, and keep your hands doing what you need. A cause-first evaluation finds which joints are driving the pain, and Andrew builds a plan around protecting them. Most people are surprised how much easier their hands feel.

It’s a fair worry, and the answer is about how you use them, not whether you do. Resting achy joints completely lets the muscles around them weaken, which leaves the joints less protected. The key is the right movement and load for your joints, guided one-on-one with a Certified Hand Therapist. We protect what needs protecting and strengthen what can carry the load.

It depends on how far along the arthritis is, and you get a plan with an endpoint from the start. Care moves through all four phases, Pain, Prime, Perform, and Prevent, with strategies you keep using at home. You will always know which phase you are in and what is left, not an open-ended string of appointments.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • Hours Mon - Fri: 8am - 5pm
  • (360) 309-0176 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • Same-week appointments available

5.0 · 19 Google reviews

Typical response: under 2 business hours

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So we know who to look for when you walk in.

Visit Us

Care this good, this close.

Dynamic Arm & Hand Therapy

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