Dynamo has said that getting arthritis is the “worst thing that can happen to a magician” after developing the condition.

The TV magician got arthritis after suffering complications resulting from Crohn’s disease.

He said that he is “about 80%” towards full health at the moment, but that he is on medication that helps him “deal with” his arthritis.

“Every day I wake up and my joints ache and I have to practice a bit more with my cards to be able to perform,” he said.

The Magic Circle issued with blue plaque
(Nick Ansell/PA)

“It’s almost caused me to slow down a little bit, in regards to my performances.”

He said that his hands were “so sensitive” because of the condition and that he “couldn’t even shuffle cards anymore” at times.

“To build up my strength in my hands, I would practice, every day I’d add a new card to the pile, to the point where I was able to hold a full deck again, and start to use the cards how I used to.”

Manchester Arena Boxing
(Richard Sellers/PA)

He added that the condition was in some ways “a blessing not a curse, because it forced me to have to re-evaluate and approach magic in a different way, because I wasn’t able to do the performances in the way that I normally would, because I couldn’t even hold cards anymore, or do any of the difficult things that I was used to doing”.

“So I had to try and find a whole new approach to magic, and I think I’ve found that,” he added.

Dynamo, whose real name is Steven Frayne, previously had to take a two-year break from his career because of his health battles after falling ill in 2017.

The magician is set to star in his new series Dynamo: Beyond Belief, which launches on Sky One on April 9.