Thumb arthritis is a condition caused by wear-and-tear in your thumb.
But if you tore a ligament, you may need surgery to fix it. If upon examination, we determine that your injury is mild, you may require only ice, rest, and bandages to recover. The signs of a stretched or damaged ligament include swelling, bruising, and pain. Have you fallen on your thumb but feel only moderate pain? In that case, you may have stretched or damaged one of the ligaments in your appendage. The treatment for a broken thumb usually involves undergoing surgery and wearing a cast for a few weeks. Seek emergency care as soon as possible if you suspect that your thumb is broken. Depending on the severity of your injury, your thumb may also look loose and unstable. If you’re experiencing radiating pain after an injury, your thumb may be broken. We asked our team of orthopedic surgeons at The Hand Center to share a few of the most common triggers of thumb pain. In some cases, though, persistent thumb pain may be a sign of an underlying condition or an injury that needs more invasive treatments, such as injections and surgery. Treatment for mild pain usually involves at-home care and painkillers. A focus on proper lifting mechanics will also help to avoid these symptoms in the future.įor additional resources, please visit the KT Tape Forum.Pain in your thumb could be a sign of injury, overuse, or arthritis. Ice after activity, rest, and avoidance of activities that incite pain are all important steps to avoid surgery. Surgery has been well accepted and successful in almost all cases, but conservative therapies are highly preferred prior to making this leap. Corticosteroid injections are thought to be successful but do need to be weighed against the negative side-effects of increased degenerative effects. KT Tape has been shown to provide support during motion of the thumb and wrist, and has markedly reduced pain in many subjects*. Treatment of the pain is determined more by noting what has worked in the past rather than scientific data. Pain is usually slight to moderate, and extreme pain may be an indication of a more serious condition. Difficulty gripping, tenderness at the base of the thumb, and swelling are common symptoms.
Pain is noted during thumb and wrist motion along with thickening and hardening of the area at the base of the thumb. When these conditions are present, movement of the thumb is restrained and further perpetuates the inflammatory condition and may create swelling in more severe cases. Symptoms are most often noted in both wrists and to the same degree of pain, indicating that more overuse activity causes more inflammation leading to pain. This hypothesis is backed up by noting that most patients with this pain are new mothers who repeatedly lift their growing babies. Many believe overuse is the primary cause leading to inflammation.
Women are considered at higher risk due to the sharper angles of the bones in the wrist, but the actual cause is somewhat unknown. Thickening of the tendons from overuse or trauma will also cause problems when the tendons need to slide beneath the sheath. When this sheath becomes injured or inflamed, the tendons become entrapped and cause pain during movement of the thumb. These tendons control the motions of the thumb, most specifically the movement of the thumb towards the wrist. This condition in particular is a degenerative (microscopic injury) condition of the sheath (extensor retinaculum) that surrounds the tendons passing over the thumb side of the wrist. A notable thumb pain condition includes De Quervain Syndrome, also known by many other names such as gamer’s thumb, mother’s wrist, and mommy thumb. Thumb pain usually presents as pain at the base of the thumb and wrist.