What Causes Swelling In Hands With Loss Of Strength?

Hi, This past yr. my husb., Mike has developed swelling in his R hand, fingers, wrist & up a bit. He lost his strength in his hand to grip. The ring finger does the most swelling. He does not experience pain, but he calls it a pulling/tightness in his wrist, and loss of strength. Primary doc did not know, he sent him to orthop. surg., who also did not know. Orth. surg. took exrays, put him in a hand/wrist brace for 3 wks., and put him on Meloxicam. Nothing worked. Swelling goes down once in awhile. He is released from Orth. surg., out of brace. Still on Meloxicam. Yest. the whole thing began again in his L hand now. Same stuff. Today he got a blood test from primary doc. and he ll ck. that and call us. Can you shed light on this please. Remember, no pain. Thank you, TLN