The human thumb is known as the opposable thumb. As in it opposes the rest of the hand. Your anatomy excels at using the thumb to close against your palm and fingers and "grip" things. The thumb is much like the lower half of your jaw or a set of pliers. But it also has the ability to move better than you jaw. That really helps get the thumb in the right position for maximum grip strength and to allow you to grab things of various sizes and shapes.
What the thumb does not excel at is typing, texting, and performing lots of motion or gripping while flexing. Those can all lead to a great deal of repetitive stress and the development of De Quervain's syndrome.
1. What is De Quervain's Syndrome?
De Quervain's syndrome is a repetitive stress injury that affects the thumb. It can be a form of tendinitis or tenosynovitis or a combination of the two. It can also lead to permanent damage with a loss of grip strength or a reduction in your range of motion if left unchecked and untreated.
The repetitive stress is localized at the base of your thumb and is often an irritation in the tendons that control the thumb that slide through the opening in the wrist or an irritation in the slippery lining that covers the opening in the wrist. When these get irritated they swell up and constrict that opening making it difficulat and painful for the tendons to move through it...
2. Symptoms of De Quervain's Sydrome
The symptoms of De Quervain's syndrome are commonly pain on the thumb side of the wrist. They may also include a popping sound and a weakness in your grip strength. The particulars of your symptoms will help diagnose whether or not you truly do have De Quervain's syndrome.
The pain may be anywhere along the lowest section of the thumb to the wrist or right below the wrist on the forearm. In De Quervain's syndrome the pain is on the outside of the thumb or wrist. The popping is the result of a swollen tendon nodule squeezing through the opening in the wrist and "popping" out. When you flex your thumb the popping should occur in the same place every time..
3. Causes of De Quervain's Syndrome
There are many things that may cause De Quervain's syndrome. From Computer work to texting on your phone to playing video games to carrying your newborn child. Throughout history various professions have developed the disorder and some even have a name for it particular to their profession such as "Washerwoman's Sprain". But they are often all related to repetitive stress that leads to inflammation in some anatomical features in your wrist and thumb...4. Diagnosing De Quervain's Syndrome
Since the cause of De Quervain's syndrome is often unknown or at least hard to pinpoint a concrete diagnosis of De Quervain's syndrome may be difficult. Complicating the matter is the number of repetitive stress injuries that can occur at or around the same area of the hand, wrist and forearm. However, De Quervain's syndrome has a specific set of symptoms that differ from other disorders.
To properly diagnose De Quervain's syndrome monitoring your symptoms will help and some simple tests may need to be performed first...
