It seems to be a result of the weather turning colder, but I keep ending up with very stiff hands. When my hands are feeling cold at all, they feel like I can barely bend my fingers, and making a fist becomes painful and sometimes not completely possible.
Does anyone else deal with something similar? I guess typing this out I’m getting paranoid that it’s a sign of something dreadful. Eek.
Same here, I was always the first in the running club to wear gloves when the weather started cooling off.
I had both electric grips and gloves when I had a motorcycle.
Sounds like arthritis to me. Aleve (or its generic version, Naproxin) is about the only OTC drug that provides relief for my beleaguered thumbs. Wear gloves when outdoors (and maybe those fingerless ones indoors).
I tended to get stiff pinkies when weather got colder. When I worked outdoors and then went to sleep, they were very stiff after I woke up. It was a result of working out in cold with insufficient gloves so I’d be more nimble - ironic, eh? Been using heavier gloves for a few years now and the problem has very slowly gone mostly away.
Kinda scared me when it first started happening. I’m barely over 30, far too young to complain about stiff joints in the winter. 
This may sound odd but it works for me. Go wash a sink load of dishes. The hot water and gentle exercise loosens them up in no time.
It might be arthritis - and it might not. I recommend first that you pay a visit to the family doctor, or get him/her to recommend a specialist for a look-see at your hands.
There are well over 100 kinds of arthritis, and just about as many kinds of joint issues. Will your situation respond better to cold rather than hot? You need to know this before being treated, or you could end up making things worse.
That said, if you learn that your joint problems would be better treated by heat, look into purchasing a hot wax therapy machine. My mother, who suffered terribly with rheumatoid arthritis, swore by it. Enough so that she was able to continue doing what she loved most: needlepoint and crewel.
While not cheap at roughly $181.00 or so, the wax penetrates better and the benefit lasts longer than hot water. I don’t know if it would be covered by medical insurance or not as recommended therapy, but it would be something to look into.
The most important thing is to Keep Moving. As Helen Hayes once said, ‘if you rest, you rust.’ Pretty darned good advice for all of us.
My work involves hand tools and often quite a bit of repetitive motion. My hands are often stiff at the end of the day - and moreso in colder months. Heat helps me. Even something as simple as holding a mug of tea seems to loosen things up. My mom got me some Therma Care hand wraps, which were nice, but I don’t need 8 hours of continuous heat, and there wasn’t a measurable improvement over the tea mug method so I wouldn’t buy them myself, even if they were cheaper.
I’ve got the white trash (cheap) version of a hot wax therapy machine. I bought an old crockpot at a thrift store for $5.00 and several blocks of wax at Sally’s Beauty Supply for around $30.00. Put the blocks of wax in the crockpot and turn it on to low. Turn the power off when you have mostly chunks of wax floating in the liquid wax. Stip so that the chunks of wax melt. Stick a candy thermometer and make sure the temperature is around 104° - 105°. Stick your hands inside for a few seconds and remove, making sure the temperature is warm and comfortable. Dip your hands in several times to build up layers of warm wax. Have large baggies setup so you can slip your hands inside and let the heat work it’s magic. When the wax cools, pull the pieces off and put them back in the crockpot and reuse over and over. Hope this helps.
I’m young and I’m not arthritic, but sometimes my fingers get a little stiff after typing in cool ambient air. For me, I stick them under a hot water faucet for a few minutes, which helps for an hour or two. I am betting that a paraffin wax dip would be even better.
I started this thread because my hands were stiff and achy. Now it’s my lower back and my (diagnosed arthritic) right hip. I think this means I’m getting OLD!
heh. i feel ya, believe me! our right hips must’ve been separated at birth. 
Maybe you need to move somewhere warmer? 
My SO swears by epsom salt soaks. He soaks both hands in a pan of hot water every night after work here lately.
Those Thermacare wraps are wonderful. You just have to make sure you get them wrapped right the first time, because the adhesive does not like being pulled off and restuck.