Arthritis in the fingers and hand can be very debilitation because it renders typing, writing, manipulation of objects, utensil use, and many other important parts of every day living to be painful; with limited finger and hand movement due to arthritis it can hamper the quality of life greatly. Because there are twenty seven bones in each hand arthritis in the fingers and thumb are common, when the cartilage is word away and there is nothing to protect the joints from their own movement pain and inflammation occur.
However the degeneration of the joints could be from years of abuse, or from a genetic predisposition - along with other causes of arthritis. The most common to afflict and hamper the joints in the hand is osteoarthritis, which has causes ranging from excessive stress and injuries to just being predisposed to it - the most common joints affected by this are the mid joints in the fingers. The second most common is rheumatoid arthritis which is a disease in which the body attacks its own joints and destroys them over time - the most common affected by this are the joints at the knuckles to the fingers, causing pain when grasping.
The symptoms that are concerning and will give away that you might have arthritis of the fingers and hands are joint pain when you move them, swelling around the joints, stiffness and inability to move them as easily as they should, and of course limiting of motion when you can move your fingers. Many patients with osteoarthritis develop lumps and deformities that can reshape the direct of the fingers and cause a loss of mobility overall, as well as knuckles becoming enlarged abnormally and stiff. Other patients with rheumatoid arthritis may see even more complex deformities in their hands over time, with fingers beginning to point away from the thumb and shifting positions, where they seem to point either up or down.