Joint Mobilization of the Hands of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results From an Assessor-Blinded, Randomized Crossover Trial.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the clinical feasibility and effectiveness of manual mobilization of the hands of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: A total of 320 individual hand joints were evaluated after recruiting an experimental research group of 12 participants with RA and, for clinical comparability, 8 participants with hand osteoarthritis (OA). One hand per participant was randomized to receive weekly low-grade (I-II) Kaltenborn manual mobilization, using passive sustained stretch of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints II to V by licensed manual therapists.