Do you have pain in your wrist?
Do you feel pain in the base of your thumb?
Is there swelling near the base of your thumb?
Do you experience pain with gripping or pinching?
Are you a parent and noticing pain when lifting your newborn baby?
You might be suffering with De Quervain’s tenosynovitis. De Quervain’s tenosynovitis occurs when the tendons at the back of the thumb become inflamed. This inflammatory process can cause pain and swelling of the base of the thumb. This blog will outline De Quervain’s tenosynovitis and effective strategies that can be used to manage symptoms.
HOW DOES THE WRIST WORK?
The anatomy of the wrist is quite complex, so for the sake of simplicity, we will focus on the aspect of the wrist that De Quervain’s affects. In the above picture, the tendons pass through a tendon sheath, and then attach to the base of the thumb. De Quervain’s tenosynovitis is inflammation of the tendons that pass under the tendon sheath. The tendon sheath can be thought of as a guide pulley that acts to redirect the direction of the tendon. This sheath also lubricates the tendon as it passes underneath it. Inflammation of the tendons causes them to thicken, which makes the passage underneath the tendon sheath more restricted. This process causes pain and swelling to develop.
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