What your hands say about your health, from arthritis to diabetes – telltale signs of illness, and why King Charles’ fingers may be swollen
- Hands provide clues about ailments from water retention to infections, which is why King Charles’ inflamed, crimson fingers have received scrutiny recently
- Experts describe conditions that can impair our hands’ function, and how tremors, swelling and redness may reflect bigger problems that require urgent attention
Last month, Britain’s King Charles set tongues wagging when he was photographed with swollen, sausage-like fingers, shortly after the death of his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.
Similarly, at the Commonwealth Day Service in London in March 2020, and at a royal engagement at a pub in May 2021, the monarch’s crimson hands and stubby extremities did not go unnoticed.
Various medical experts weighed in, including Dr Gareth Nye, a senior lecturer at England’s University of Chester.
He told British tabloid newspaper the Daily Star that bloated fingers and red hands may be due to any number of health conditions – among them fluid retention (oedema), which “mostly affects people over the age of 65 as the ability for fluid control is restricted”, and arthritis, when the “fingers usually become stiff, painful and swollen”.
Although Nye added that it could not be concluded that the king’s swollen fingers were cause for any immediate medical concern, it’s fair to say that our hands can reveal a lot about our well-being.
