ViveArthritis Thumb Splint - Thumb Spica Support Brace for Pain, Sprains, Strains, Arthritis, Carpal Tunnel & Trigger Thumb Immobilizer - Wrist Strap - Left or Right Hand

I have rheumatoid arthritis which affects many of the joints in my hands, and osteoarthritis in the CMC joints of both thumbs (the base joint where thumb meets wrist). I have tried a lot of different thumb splints/supports/spicas to provide protection and relief, both NHS issued and bought, and I've not yet found one that meets all the criteria to do the job well, but some are good in one way and some in others. The criteria are: must provide support to the thumb in a way that doesn't press on the tender part of the damaged joint, must sufficiently restrict movement of the damaged joint while still allowing me to use my hands as normally as possible, must fit well and be reasonably discreet for when I'm out in public so I don't get continually asked what's wrong with my hand, but also must not show up dirt too readily as I work with my hands all day in an environment that isn't always very clean, must stay put in the correct position and not keep swivelling about on my hand, must be cut in such a way that it doesn't aggravate or press on other joints when they are tender from the RA, must be easy to put on and take off by myself.So far I've not found one which can tick all of these boxes. The old NHS ones were incredibly painful to wear, the newer ones are better but only come in a beige colour (I think it's meant to be flesh toned, but I've never met anyone with beige skin!) which gets filthy quickly and are not comfortable to wear for long periods, others have dug into other tender joints or pressed on the damaged thumb joint, some have made my hand sweat abominably. You get the picture, many are just badly designed and don't seem to have been tested on actual people who need support and pain relief but still need to use their hands in the real world.So how does this one fare? Good points: the dual splints which run up either side of the thumb mean that it stays put in the right position without pressing directly on the damaged joint. They are rigid enough to keep it in a very fixed position but malleable enough that you can make a little adjustment to fit yourself better (I had to bend them both in slightly as they were holding my thumb too far from my hand which was painful, probably due to the one size fits all aspect, which I'll cover later). The straps are robust, the velcro seems strong, and it's easy to put on and take off (once you get used to it and have the thumb strap set up so you can slip your thumb in without altering it). It is genuinely breathable, not making the hand sweat too much despite being thick material. Although it comes quite far up the hand it is soft enough and loose enough at the top not to aggravate the joints at my knuckles in the way other full-hand splints like this have. It's black, so doesn't look grotty after a few hours of wear. It also comes in grey, which looks nice but would probably show up the dirt.Negative points: there really is no such thing as one-size-fits-all, what you get is one-size-fits-average-Male plus a range either side of that. It is designing to a male default setting which serves women ill. As arthritis of the CMC joint is much more common in women than men, designing a support for this purpose around average male hand size seems really daft. I have pretty average sized female hands and wrists and I can only make this fit with the velcro almost at it's maximum tightness. What you then get is a bulge of surplus material popping up above the crook of your thumb. The whole thing is generally oversized and therefore bulkier and clunkier than it should be, the opposite of discreet. The dual splints hold the thumb wonderfully still which helps with pain, but is probably too rigid if you need to work with your hands, and though you could take one out for working use the oversized nature of the splint would cause if to then move about on the hand.So, in summary, this has many good points and design features, but is let down by the manufacturer trying to get away with a single size option. 3 size options is probably the minimum in reality. It may seem from parts of this review that I'm really negative about this product, but I'm not, and for one reason. While it doesn't work for me as a working splint for daytime use, I've found that it is excellent as a resting splint for wearing in bed at night. I wake up with substantially less pain if I wear this in bed, and I haven't tried another splint which was comfortable for night use at all, so I've been impressed for that reason. The full resting splints the NHS give for wearing in bed are cumbersome and uncomfortable, and if the thumb is your main issue they're a bit OTT, but this product is much easier to wear.So, I've yet to find a working splint which ticks all my boxes, so if any manufacturer out there is looking for a design adviser I have lots of suggestions for improvement. But if you want something to relieve thumb joint pain at night, and your hands aren't too small, this will do that job well.

A very good comfortable design, however the very sharp velcro edges around the thumb has ruined several items of my clothing. You need to fix this mess in order to perfect your product.

Bought as I had damage a ligament in my hand. Good support, but probably the fact I wore it kept me from over using my injured hand. Certainly helped the recovery.

Been using for a few days and it seems to be helping giving support to wrist and thump

Very bulky I find the one that just isolated the single digit is better

Very lightweight and comfortable.

I bought two different thumb braces/splints after spraining my thumb quite badly when I fell going for a tennis shot (got it over but they got it back again :-( Must have tried to spread my fingers and thumb to break my fall - not recommended and still grazed my knee as well; ouch! This one was only slightly more expensive but provided so much extra support than the other one which only had one splint. The downside is this one is more restrictive in terms of what I can do eg it makes working my PC mouse quite difficult, but then I could always remove one of the splints I suppose. Having said that I've got more protection around the bottom half of my palm than with the other one as well and the material feels more substantial. I have large hands but my (long) fingers and wrists are quite slender and it fits very well - there are three places to adjust - around the wrists, the base of your palm and around the top thumb joint so there's plenty of room for manoeuvre. I'm glad I got both - I keep this one for "best" and use the other one for dog walking, gardening etc.

My Mrs got me this to try to see if it would help with a repetitive strain injury. I didn't think it would make much difference if any at all - how wrong I was! I find myself constantly wearing this whenever I'm not at work because the difference it makes is unreal. Rather than sit in pain trying to find a way to free my hand of the discomfort, this keeps my thumb in a position that doesn't allow it to flex into painful positions. My only minor complaint would be that the velcro is wearing slightly but it's nowhere near stopping it from working. Could possibly put a press stud in place of the velco once it eventually gives up anyway. Well worth buying though!