Joint Replacement
The Hand Clinic offers state-of-the-art joint replacements. For those with intrusive pain which has not responded to steroid injections and splints, we can replace the thumb base (Touch CMC), the wrist (Motec), the rotating joint (Scheker or Herbert) and the finger joints (Silastic MCP, Capflex PIP or Silastic PIP).
👉 Thumb Base Replacement information leaflet (PDF)
Patient experience
What it's like
Following several years of declining flexibility and increased pain in an arthritic, worn-out carpometacarpal joint left thumb, Professor Warwick was able to successfully administer steroid injections to ease movement. For a couple of years these worked well, but eventually their effectiveness reduced dramatically, and he proposed a remedy of joint replacement involving the insertion of a ball-and-socket prosthesis linking the trapezium and the metacarpal. Following a comprehensive and informative briefing, the process was completed as a day patient under a general anaesthetic. The speed with which I was able to regain, and easily surpass, my previous degree of movement in my thumb was astonishing, and while I was aware that early in my recovery it was necessary to avoid stressing the joint, I was able to enjoy comfortable flexibility and capacity in just a couple of weeks post-op. Now, after nearly eighteen months of full activity, I am completely unaware that I have had the operation. I remain deeply indebted to Professor Warwick and his excellent team for this dramatic improvement to my quality of life, and I would have absolutely no reservations about recommending others to consider this pathway.