Ally McCoist has revealed he has an incurable hand condition which causes his fingers to bend towards his palms.
The Rangers and Scotland legend said he has suffered from Dupuytren’s contracture for several years.
The inherited condition causes an abnormal thickening of the skin in the palm of your hand at the base of your fingers which over time can cause one or more fingers to curl towards the palm or pull sideways.
It is named after the French surgeon Baron Guillaume Dupuytren and is often called ‘Viking disease’ as it is more common in men with northern European ancestry.
McCoist, 62, said both his parents had suffered from the condition. He has had two operations to straighten his fingers over the years but said the issue had returned.
The former Ibrox player and manager said the condition means it can take him about five minutes to send a text message on his phone as he often has to use just one finger.
Dupuytren’s contracture is when one or more fingers bond in towards the palm.
It mainy affects the ring and middle fingers and it is common to have it in both hands. It tends to get worse over many months or years.
The condition is not usually painful but it can affect with using the hands. There is no cure however fingers can be straightened with surgery if the condition is severe.
The exact cause of the condition is not known but it has been linked to smoking and drinking a lot of alcohol, as well as diabetes or epilepsy.
It is no known if there can be prevention or stopping it from coming back.
Source: NHS
Speaking on Talksport, he said: ‘I have got Dupuytren’s. It’s a hereditary thing where your fingers close in.
‘I have had them done twice. I went to see the doctor and he said to me ‘Did your grandfather have it?’. I said ‘I don’t know’ because I never met any of my grandfathers, sadly they passed before I was born.
‘I said to him ‘But my dad had it’. He lifted his head up and said ‘You’re unlucky because it normally skips a generation’. I said ‘That’s good news because I have got five boys’.
‘My wee mum had it as well. My mum had it, my dad had it, it’s a hereditary thing.
‘The bizarre thing with Dupuytren’s is when I went to see the doctor he said ‘I will operate on it but it will come back in roughly nine years’. And I swear to God nine years later it came back.’
He added: ‘I have seen myself sending a text message which takes me five minutes to text with one finger when I should just dial the number.’
It is estimated that two million people in Britain have some degree of Dupuytren’s and other famous sufferers have included Margaret Thatcher and actor Bill Nighy.
The cause is unknown but it runs in families and worsens with age, affecting about 20 per cent of over 65s.
The standard approach is to wait until the condition is severe, causing the fingers to bend completely inward, before offering straightening surgery. The operation involves cutting away parts of the affected tendons or removing them completely.