Hi Graham,
As far as I understand, there isn't much that can be done for the ulnar drift apart from surgery. I'm in the process of having various fingers on my right hand operated on but I think that's more for the function in terms of straightening fingers to release the tendons in the hand. So far, my fingers are all still pointing miles to the side and I suspect will be like that now forever.
I know exactly how you feel ... it's very frightening watching your hands deform literally before your eyes. I went from having fully functional albeit painful hands to rather deformed hands and fingers within just a few months. A lot of simple tasks are now impossible.
If I can offer you one piece of advice .... use your hands as much as you can. The less you use them, the quicker the tendons start to cause the deformity and the harder it is to regain the function. Your OT should be able to give you some hand exercises that will definitely help maintain function. One of the exercises that is really important to do regularly is touching the tip of each finger to the tip of your thumb, each finger in turn and finally, the tip of the thumb to the base of the little finger.
There is a very good leaflet published by ARC on hand deformity ...
http://www.arthritisrese...07-2_06042010105835.pdf
I hope you manage to see someone soon about this.
Joanna
