Question
My doctor's diagnosis for the pain in my thumbs is De Quervain's.  Prior to seeing my doctor, I gave myself the same diagnosis, but did not tell my doctor.  Are you familiar with this condition and would you suggest your do-it-yourself joint pain relief?

Answer
Hello Rose,

My diy thumb joint pain relief page
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/thumb-joint-pain-relief.html
would be fine to do with your De Quervain's
It would only help or do nothing if you did give it a try.  It would not make this worse.

My only caveat is that I've worked with and fixed many patients with De Quervain's,
and to fix them I had to work VERY deep in the thumb and wrist muscles in the forearm
above the thumb.  I don't know if you'll be able to produce enough force to do it yourself,
but it's worth a try.

Basically, feel in your good arm (both top and bottom of forearm) for the muscles that move when you do the motions that your De Quervain's
doesn't allow you to do.  Then go over to your your De Quervain's arm and try and do those same motions by pressing on the tight tissue in your forearm.  The lower forearm just above the thumb is important, but you'll want to find and release all the tension you can doing the   press-hold-move technique on my website.

You can also have a friend press on the tight tissue for you.  If you'd like a professional to work on it I'd recommend you go to these two websites,
http://www.rolf.org/find
and
http://www.rolfguild.org/practitioners/usa
Call the practioners in your area and go to someone who you feel has the best chance of helping you.
I'd generally recommend someone who has been in practice at least 5 years, preferably 10 years.  And feel free to try more than one person if you don't feel like you've found a good one.

I do hope this was helpful.  Do know that it can be fixed with some good soft-tissue work.
All the best,
Gary Crowley