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De Quervain's Tenosynovitis (Read 3813 times)

GazM

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De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 19, 2018, 09:11:37 am
Also known as 'Mummy's Thumb'. Anyone had any experience with this?  It's inflammation of the thumb tendons/sheaths as they move in the wrist.  For me it's been caused by continuously picking up our wee toddler (10kg!) from weird and wonderful angles like car seats.  I can't get a GP appointment til next week and I suspect that will just lead to a referral to a physio anyway, so more waiting, and it's starting to get pretty sore.  In the mean time I can't just stop picking him up! Fortunately it isn't affected by climbing, or hasn't been yet...

There are a couple of brief mentions in Power Club from 2016 (Habrich and Luke - what happened to yours?). Current plan from Dr. Google includes regular icing, wearing a wrist support with thumb splint and trying to avoid aggravating movements. If anyone has any other tips I'd be interested to hear from you. 

galpinos

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#1 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 19, 2018, 12:43:40 pm
No tips but my wife got it with our two and a good friend who is a PT got it with hers. Both took to wearing wrist support/thumb splints and it cleared up over time.

GazM

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#2 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 19, 2018, 01:56:56 pm
Thanks Galpinos. Time will tell...

Luke Owens

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#3 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 21, 2018, 09:20:41 pm
I think I had a mild case of it a while back (same year our 2nd was born). It wasn't bad enough to stop me doing anything and nothing I seemed to do improved it so in the end I just ignored it and it cleared up on its own. It did take a long time to go though.

tomtom

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#4 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 21, 2018, 10:17:45 pm
We’ve got our toddler scrambling in and out of his car seat on his own to partly save our own backs. He won’t always do it - but we’ve turned it into a game for him.

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#5 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 22, 2018, 08:49:11 am
Start with these exercises - begin with what is comfortable. Ice will temporarily ease the pain but has no effect on inflammation.  A splint can be useful. Avoid aggravating repetitive movements.  It will get better.

https://www.ouh.nhs.uk/patient-guide/leaflets/files/11303Pdequervains.pdf

TobyD

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#6 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 23, 2018, 08:29:28 am
I have treated it in the past, but not for a long time. I'd say get referred to an NHS physio, they'll probably give you a splint; they seem to work sometimes.

GazM

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#7 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 23, 2018, 09:37:31 am
Thanks for all the very helpful feedback. Pleasingly consistent!  I'll be asking my GP for a physio referral when I see them on Monday.

I got a splint off t'internet and because it's making me avoid the painful movements I think the condition is improving, but I know it will take a long time.

galpinos

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#8 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 23, 2018, 11:11:22 am
I got a splint off t'internet and because it's making me avoid the painful movements I think the condition is improving, but I know it will take a long time.

That reminded me that's exactly what my wife said. The splint stopped her doing the movement that was causing the problem.

SA Chris

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#9 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
November 26, 2018, 09:46:35 am
I had pain on the top (thumb side) of my wrist from carrying our first around at a funny angle. Cleared up quite quickly after I stated perching him on my arm instead.

Friends have had similar to as you describe, and a wrist support definitely helped.

GazM

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#10 Re: De Quervain's Tenosynovitis
August 16, 2019, 02:12:14 pm
Just wanted to update this thread in case anyone else happens to be searching for help with this annoying wrist issue in the future.

I'm happy to report that my tenosynovitis eventually cleared up after several months and various angles of attack. I ended up wearing a thumb splint to totally immobilise my thumb during the period of worst pain (2-3 months), both at day and night. In hindsight this was probably more helpful for my comfort than doing anything to help the healing.  After about 3 months of attempting to manage it by myself I got fed up and went to see a physio and after 3 sessions of her massaging and doing ultra-sound and me doing daily massage and icing, it started to clear up. I reckon I've been free of the pain for a couple of months now and can pass Finkelstein's Test no bother.  I've kept up the massaging, but now only do it about once a week, just to be safe.

I'm pretty sure it was the massage and icing (i.e. increasing blood flow to the injured area) that made the big difference, but I also had to change the movement patterns that caused the problem, in particular picking up my toddler ands especially getting him in/out of the car seat.

Fortunately, the injury never really affected my climbing and in the period that I was rocking my 'Mummy's Thumb' splint at playgroup I was scraping my way up some of the hardest and best boulder problems I've managed.

Anyway, hope this might help someone in the future.

 

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