Thanks for this thread, I googled "Guitarist Arthritis" and found it.

I play acoustic since I was 12 (I'm a lot older than that now) but my current love is bass. Recently my hands and fingers have been giving me all kinds of problems, at first I thought it might be related to menopause but doc says I'm not there yet. Tingling, aches, and soreness/inflammation in the joints and knuckles.

I've had to abandon "finger style" bass playing for the moment and take up the plectrum instead; maybe I can take it up again later if and when things improve.

What I find is my hands and fingers play beautifully when they're "on the job" but it's only afterwards they start complaining!

I also work constantly with computers and my left index finger is the one I use for the mouse so I think that is also a factor.

I take glucosamine/chondroitin and also fish oils but I am going to take up that suggestion about wheat. Been suspicious about that for a while. I also have an ibuprofen gel to rub on the hands before and after playing and also a glucosamine gel... and I use a wrist support on both wrists now.

Mostly just wanted to say it's really encouraging to know that there are other old creaky people out there still playing their axes! When I started with this I thought it was the end of the world, couldn't imagine a life without playing... but turns out I still can so I intend to keep doing so.   Thanks everyone for sharing.