Trigger Thumb?

[OakLeaf]

Acupuncture was a huge help for me (though not a complete cure) in recovering from tendinitis in both elbows.

The tendinitis was the result of (wait for it) immobilizing my hand on the advice of an orthopedic surgeon, after bruising a tendon and a nerve in a freak home improvement accident So I'm strongly biased against immobilization.

My experience with orthos, in Ohio, Maryland and Florida over 25 years and for several different injuries, is that they don't even want to know you unless they can cut on you. My thought is go with the acupuncture first, and if that doesn't help see a physical therapist. See the ortho only if your insurance requires you to get a MD referral for PT. Many acupuncture physicians will give you home exercises, too.

[Raindrop]

Well, I had the accupunture and it didn't help the thumb, unfortunately, but she also put some needles in to relax me and help with anxiety. I don't know if it was the accupunture, or the fact I'd had to teach a 5:45am Spinning class...but I relaxed right into snoring.

However, I just came back from a medical doctor appointment and they took an x-ray and are sending me for the cortizone shot. Hopefully, that'll do the trick.

[Raindrop]

Just thought I would post that I got the cortizone shot and it took about a week and a half...but it worked! I still have some clicking in the thumb, but no pain and I've been out on my bike again. Yay!

[trickytiger]

I had the same thing- stenosing tenosynovitis, but in my third finger. It was probably caused by a sudden addiction to rock climbing when I started college- I get pretty gung-ho about new sports! I tried the cortisone injection and that helped for about a year, but it returned with a vengeance along with a weakened tendon. This required surgery to fix, and it's now been three years with no real problems beyond a lot of scar tissue. My advice- try to reduce stress on that finger and watch it pretty carefully -you don't want too many cortisone shots!

[Raindrop]

Thanks for the extra information. I'm probably facing surgery eventually, since the tendon is still affecting the movement of my thumb. However, I'm hoping to put it off as long as possible. Being self-employed means having pretty crummy insurance with a $2,500 deductible...so I'm hoping to do it in a year that I've actually met my deductible.(gotta love healthcare)