When you suffer from hand tendinitis, you may feel pain and a burning sensation when moving your affected hand, and the inflammation may develop into continuous pain. Learn how to treat hand tendinitis.
Pain is the most common symptom of Tendonitis in the hand but it is not the only symptom. Patients with tendonitis often feel numbness or tingling when moving the wrist or one of the five fingers, especially the thumb, due to the presence of an essential tendon of the thumb known as the “Tenur de Corvain.”
Suppose your work requires using your hands, such as writing or drawing, or you are a housewife who does a lot of household work with your hands. In that case, you may be more susceptible to hand tendinitis, as overloading the tendons leads to inflammation in the tendons surrounding the hand and wrist; Learn more about This condition and its treatment.
What is hand tendinitis?
Tendons are white ropes connecting bones with muscles to ensure coordinated movement and protect joints from injury.
Six tendons in the wrist connect the muscles and bones of the hand. Sometimes, due to excessive load on these tendons or a severe injury to a tendon (such as a sudden sprain), the tendon becomes inflamed, and inflammation in one of the tendons causes several signs and symptoms to appear, including pain in the wrist.
Inflammation may affect the sheath surrounding the tendon and later cause inflammation to spread to the tendon. One of the tendons most susceptible to inflammation in hand is the thumb and ulnar tendons.
Hand tendonitis is not much different than the rest of the tendonitis that other tendons in the body are exposed to such as shoulder tendinitis or Patellar tendinitis in terms of causes, symptoms, and methods of treatment.
Symptoms of hand tendonitis
Patients with tendinitis usually have one of the following signs and symptoms:
- Hand and wrist pain that gets worse with movement and eases with rest
- The pain may become severe and spread to wider areas of the hand
- Difficulty making specific movements, such as opening cans, rotating the door handle, and lifting heavy weight
- Stiffness in the joint and hearing crackling sound (pop) while moving the hand
- Swelling around the wrist or at the base of the fingers
- Difficulty in flexing the fingers
- Frequent hand numbness
Causes of hand tendonitis
As mentioned earlier, tendinitis in the hand often occurs due to repeated and continuous stress on the tendons of the wrist and hand for long periods. Excessive use is usually seen in practitioners of specific professions (such as writers, car drivers, and painters) or some athletes (golf or tennis players).
Overloading leads to inflammation and enlargement of the sheath surrounding the tendon, so the movement of the tendons and their sliding around the sheath becomes difficult, causing pain when moving the affected hand.
Exposure to some severe injuries on the hand may cause rupture and inflammation of the joint tendons.
Diagnosis of hand tendinitis
The doctor will ask the patient about his symptoms. Then he will conduct some tests, such as asking the patient to move his hand or wrist in different positions, noticing the hand pain when doing some movements, and examining the hand and fingers to look for any inflammatory signs such as swelling and redness.
When the specialist suspects the presence of hand tendonitis, he may resort to one of these tests to confirm the diagnosis including:
X-ray image
This test helps rule out other problems that may cause similar signs of tendon injury, especially bone problems such as fractures.
Ultrasound imaging
Ultrasound helps detect inflammatory joint diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, gout, and other joint disorders whose symptoms may be similar to tendonitis.
How to treat hand tendonitis
When hand tendonitis is not treated appropriately, it may become a long-term disease that causes difficulty in the movement of the hands. Therefore, it is preferable to consult a doctor quickly when feeling signs that may indicate the presence of inflammation in one of the tendons in your hand so that your doctor can determine an appropriate treatment plan.
There are many ways to treat tendonitis in hand. The doctor may prescribe painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs in the mild stages of tendonitis. In contrast, your doctor may recommend surgery in more severe cases of inflammation, which may be associated with a rupture or cut in the tendon. Let's discuss more details About the methods used to treat tendonitis, including:
Rest and avoid strenuous activities on the hands
Resting your hand from hard work and continuous movement is the most important step in treating and relieving hand tendonitis symptoms. Stop your work and take a break when you feel pain in one of your hands. It is best to avoid lifting heavy weights or any stressful activity for the hand tendons.
Applying ice to your hand is also helpful in reducing inflammation and relieving tendon pain, in addition to the important role of physical therapy in improving the range of motion and relieving hand tendon pain. Read more about the benefits of Physiotherapy.
Ointment for the treatment of hand tendonitis
Doctors usually prescribe some medications or ointments to relieve pain. Among these medications are NSAIDs that may be given orally or in creams applied over the skin, such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen and many other pain relievers.
Treating hand tendonitis with herbs
The efficacy of herbs in treating tendonitis has not yet been proven, as their effect is often limited to relieving pain. It is impossible to rely on herbs only to treat tendinitis; instead, it must be combined with another treatment method.
Among the herbs used to manage and treat tendonitis include:
- white willow;
- turmeric
- the Garlic
- Cabbage leaves
- Rosemary
Surgery for Hand tendon rupture
Severe hand tendonitis can cause tendon rupture, which requires surgical intervention to repair it.
There is no need to worry, as this is a simple surgery usually performed on an outpatient basis and does not require general anesthesia but only local anesthesia. You can remove the surgical stitches less than two weeks after the surgery.
In the end, tendonitis of the hands is a common condition among people with excessive use of the hands, such as golf and tennis players. This problem causes many symptoms, the most important of which is hand pain and difficulty in moving it with a burning sensation and numbness in hand. Resting your hand is considered the most important step for treatment, and pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory ointments can also be used. The surgical option is reserved as a last option if the previous methods fail to relieve the symptoms of tendinitis that the patient complains about or in the event of a tendon rupture.
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