Doctor squeezing gout elbow as hard as possible – safe?

[strathmartin]

Hi

i’m writing for some info on behalf of my partner. He is 51 and has only started taking allopurinol two months ago and his uric acid levels have gone from 7.8 to 7.2 so far (he is only on 100 mg at the moment). He has a number of tophus deposits, a large one on his finger, some on his feet and elbows.

However, my question related to the treatment he received at first his docs then the hospital. On going to the doctors (for something else), the doctor showed alarm at the state of his elbow which was weeping white tophus and also some blood. We had been covering the elbow with dressings and also cabbage leaves, and the elbow was actually getting better. She immediately started to squeeze his elbow really strongly and sent him to the hospital to have it seen by the rheumatology doctor there. (we are in the UK). At the hospital the young doctor who said he had done this often, proceeded to squeeze the elbow as hard as possible. The amount that was expressed by doing this was only the same amount that would have been expressed without intervention over the course of a couple of hours. The doctor really was squeezing as hard as he could and my partner was left with bruising round the elbow and extreme pain which led to his arm almost being locked into place and leading to pain in his shoulder and neck which caused him further agony.
The doctor said he had done this procedure a number of times but to me it seemed like something that should be contra-indicated. Before writing to them for an explanation, I would like to ask if anyone could tell me if they have any knowledge of why this might have been a good thing for the doc to have done?
(Additionally, in a follow up appointment, the nurse covered his elbow with an extremely sticky plaster which left the skin grazed and even more fragile after it was painfully removed.)

Any advice gratefully received,
Delia

[Author]

Posts