What is the manual labor metacarpal arthropathy syndrome?
Primary OA typically does not involve the MCP joints and its presence at this location should prompt an evaluation for secondary causes such as hemochromatosis and CPP arthritis. Rarely, OA of the MCP joints (worse in the dominant hand) has been described in male patients aged over 50 years who have engaged in heavy manual labor (truck drivers, farmers, heavy machine operators) involving their hands for several decades. It is hypothesized that repetitive power gripping of both hands during heavy labor increases the load across the joints’ articular surface leading to MCP joint degeneration.
