First hand evidence

If youve ever wondered what the future holds for your health then you need look no further than your hands, and were not talking palm reading here. New reports suggest that you can predict whether youll suffer from cancer or heart disease simply by looking at your fingers and knuckles.

When you think of hands youre more likely to be worrying about dry skin and the state of your nails than analysing the bumps on them, but what if these unexplained lumps held the truth about your wellbeing?

Experts have been looking into the connection between health and hands for many years, with the results being published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, among other places.

It is thought that hands provide a map to the body, much like feet in reflexology, so when your body contracts an illness it can manifest in your extremities.

Handy to know

A recent example of this hand diagnosis method in action is that of a 74-year-old woman who complained of painful lumps that had developed on her palms. She sought medical advice but doctors were baffled as she appeared otherwise healthy.

Luckily the team at the Royal Free Hospital in London had read about paraneoplastic syndrome, where a disease or symptom signifies a presence of cancer in the body, in this case, the thickened skin on the womans hands. She was later successfully treated for ovarian cancer.

Having read this youre probably sat there examining every nook and cranny on your fingers and palms, so here are a few things to be on the lookout for.

Palms

Reddened palms can set alarm bells ringing as they are often related to liver problems, according to Dr Graham Archard of the Royal College of General Practitioners.

This is known as palmar erythema and occurs when hormone levels in the body become unbalanced as a result of liver disease. Watch out for red patches beneath the little finger and thumb.

Sweaty palms often occur in moments of anxiety or stress, but if youre experiencing constant sweatiness then it could be a sign of an overactive thyroid. Responsible for how quickly the body burns energy, the thyroid can sometimes go into overdrive causing your metabolism to speed up.

Nails

You may be one of many people who have those little white flecks on your finger nails, but contrary to popular opinion, these are unlikely to be caused by a lack of calcium or zinc in the body and will disappear with time.

What you do need to lookout for are things such as red splintering or haemorrhages in the nails which can indicate an infection in the heart or *lo**.

Clubbed nails are also one to watch. This is where your nails bend inwards at the top and could be due to a lack of oxygen in the *lo** caused by heart or lung disease.

Nails which are thin or dipped in the centre can also be the first sign of anaemia, which is caused by a lack of iron in the body and results in weakened nails.

Knuckles

Rheumatoid arthritis could be one cause of knobbly knuckles, particularly if the ones on the lower finger are lumpy.

High cholesterol can be hard to detect without a test, but fattened knuckles might provide a first warning sign. Fatty deposits known as tendon xanthoma can collect around the knuckles causing hard, yellow bumps.