How to treat tenosynovitis of the thumb

Tenosynovitis of the thumb is a tendinopathy of the hand that refers to tenosynovitis of the long flexor thumb muscle at the head of the first metacarpal. The tendon of the long flexor of the thumb enters, at the neck of the first metacarpal, into a narrow canal formed by the bony groove of the palmar side of the metacarpal with the sheath ligament. At the base of the first phalanx and its ulnar seed bone, the superficial and deep heads of the thumb flexor are attached respectively, and the tendon of the long thumb flexor passes between them. The two tendons rub against the tendon sheath over time, causing chronic inflammation. Some occupations that require long-term repetitive strain on the joints, such as typists, keyboard players, instrumentalists, cargo handling or industries that require long hours of computer operation, can cause or aggravate this disease. Commonly affected areas include pain in the wrist and fingers. Pain and limited movement of the thumb is usually evident upon waking up and sometimes relieved with activity. The thumb may become swollen and pop. The disease is aggravated by the inability to actively flex or straighten the thumb, or in more severe cases, even the thumb cannot be passively flexed or straightened and fixation occurs. Treatment: (1) For cases with short duration of disease and mild symptoms, conservative treatment can be implemented, including, using braces to brake the thumb appropriately, changing the activity patterns and habits that trigger the disease, reducing cold stimulation, local heat application, physical therapy, topical medication application, etc. Early on, finger activity can be reduced, topical application and hot compresses can be applied. (2) closed treatment: closed with a mixture of hormones and anesthetics, can make early tendovaginitis can be relieved or cured, but should not be closed for several times. (3) surgical treatment: in the case of non-surgical treatment is not effective, feasible small needle knife release or tendon sheath incision. An incision is made at the transverse palmar line, and the tendon sheath is separated by vascular forceps straight to the tendon sheath to avoid injury to the finger vascular nerve bundle.