Testing Arthritis Gloves in Rheumatoid/Inflammatory Arthritis

Overview

2015- 2018

Arthritis gloves are provided to people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Inflammatory Arthritis (IA). These apply pressure and warmth and aim to relieve (night and/or day) hand pain, stiffness and improve the ability to use the hands. We systematically reviewed arthritis glove trials.

A few small studies (all published over 25 years ago) identified: reduced finger swelling at night (only by about 1mm), but other effects were unclear. One study found similar benefits in participants wearing arthritis gloves providing pressure and warmth (termed compression gloves) and placebo gloves (thermal gloves providing warmth but no pressure).

It is unclear from the evidence if arthritis gloves are effective, or if just wearing gloves has the same result. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of arthritis gloves on people with RA or IA with hand pain (A-GLOVES).