3 step test for thumb tendonitis or de quervain’s tendonitis
As we all know, our hands are used constantly all day long for almost everything that we do. If we injure our fingers or hands, this could impact how we perform our daily tasks at work, home and play.
When we get a health injury, this can impact how we do things. Some injuries that can happen can be thumb tendinitis and even Dequervains tendinitis. Getting these injuries can happen in a number of different ways.
Tendonitis of the thumb, what exactly is this?
Here is some basic information on what is tendonitis in the thumb. This will happen when there is an irritation or swelling of the tendons of the hand. This happens with the tendons along the side of the wrist on the thumb side.
When you have this irritation, the compartment that surrounds the tendon swells. Then the compartment changes shape and the tendon can’t move in the compartment the way it should. You are going to feel pain and tenderness in the wrist when you go to make a fist, grab or pinch something or when you turn the wrist.
Repetitive Motion Injury can cause Thumb Tendonitis, so what is it
If you have a job or some task that you have to use a repetitive motion, can cause this problem. This repeated movement over the years will or can cause pain in the hand, possibly injured nerves (carpal tunnel syndrome), you can have locking fingers (trigger finger) and loss of movement or pain that effects the thumb.
Signs and Symptoms of Thumb Tendinitis
The first thing that will alert you is the pain on the thumb side of the wrist. This can happen gradually, but sometimes, one day it can be there. You can almost think that you have arthritis or some type of arthritic pain. This pain can start in the wrist and travel all the way up the forearm.
There are many symptoms that can alert you that there is something going wrong. The pain will typically be on the thumb side of the wrist. When you move the hand or twist the wrist or sometimes when you go to grab something the pain can be severe. When this problems starts to get really bad, your thumb and or fingers may start to snap or catch. When you are having numbness on the back side of the thumb or the index finger this is a very good sign that something is very wrong and you are pinching a nerve.
How can I treat this?
An initial treatment when you start to feel the symptoms is to rest the thumb. Stop doing and moving the injured area. You can start to ice the thumb in 15 minute intervals. Take some over the counter anti-inflammatory medication. Use a thumb splint or brace to reduce the movement and help to support it.
Your doctor at a last resort may require you to have a cortisone injection into the effected area. This will help with the swelling that happens with thumb tendonitis or even De Quervain’s tendonitis. This is going to help to reduce the swelling and provide you some pain relief.
The last straw if the other treatments don’t provide relief is surgery. You would do this if the pain is constant or constantly recurring. Surgical treatments do work well and can cure the problem. You are in and out, day surgery and then you wear a splint for several day to brace the treated area or until the stitches are removed.
Thumb tendonitis and the way to tell if you are suffering
The Finkelstein test can be performed to tell if you have thumb tendonitis or Dequervain’s tendonitis. The following is the procedure to check for these problems.
* The patient makes a fist, with the fingers over the thumb
* Now it is simple, just bend the wrist in the direction of the pinky (little) finger.
* This test is and can be quite painful if the person is suffering from tendonitis of the thumb. You will find tenderness directly over the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist when you touch them and this is very common.
2 steps and you will know if you have or possibly have thumb tendonitis.