Yes, it’s fairly common to feel stiffness in your fingers in the morning as you get older. But it’s difficult to put it down simply to “getting older.”
As you mentioned,
when you wake up in the morning, your finger joints feel stiff,
it’s difficult to make a tight fist,
and the stiffness eases after about 30 minutes as you wash and move your hands.
There are a few possibilities.
The most common possibilities
① Degenerative changes in the finger joints: As you get older, your joints and the tissues around them gradually change, which can make them feel stiff in the morning. You may notice this more if you do work that involves using your fingers a lot.
② Inflammation in the tendons or tissues around the joints in your hands: Your hands may feel stiffer the morning after you’ve used them a lot.
③ An inflammatory joint disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis: In this case, morning stiffness often lasts 30 minutes to 1 hour or longer, or several finger joints may be similarly painful and swollen on both sides.
I can’t say for certain that this is something to be seriously concerned about right away, but it’s important to note whether it has been getting worse recently.
In particular, if you have any of the following, consider getting it checked at an orthopedic clinic or a rheumatology clinic.
Your finger joints are swollen
They feel hot or hurt when touched
It occurs similarly in both hands
Morning stiffness lasts for more than 1 hour
Your fingers continue to hurt during the day
Your fingers are difficult to straighten or feel like they catch
On the other hand, if your fingers are stiff only in the morning, loosen up quickly with movement, and there’s no swelling or pain, soaking your hands in warm water and slowly curling and straightening your fingers may help.
