The Most Common Reason behind Pain at the Base of the Thumb
Does your thumb hurt? Pain at the bottom of the thumb - where it joins up with the wrist, is sometimes caused by a very common condition, particularly over age 50. It's additional common in women, and it's not carpal tunnel syndrome!
The answer?
Arthritis at the bottom of the thumb.
What is it?
The word arthritis means that joint (arth-) inflammation (-itis). The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, or OA. Another name for it's degenerative joint disease, or DJD. The ends of bones normally move smoothly against each other. Sleek cartilage in joints makes this possible. The disease process of arthritis causes this cartilage to wear down and the joint not works as it absolutely was designed to.
Within the worst, most advanced cases, bone literally grinds on bone within the arthritic joint!
The base of the thumb is where the thumb joins up with the wrist. The main joint concerned in arthritis at the bottom of the thumb is the trapeziometacarpal joint (additionally known as the carpometacarpal joint - CMC joint of the thumb).
This joint is created by a long bone within the thumb referred to as the metacarpal and a bone in the wrist referred to as the trapezium. This joint provides the majority of the useful motion in your hand - gripping, pinching, twisting, gap jars, and writing all need this joint to possess pain-free function. Arthritis could cause pain with all these activities.
This type of arthritis is additional common in girls than men, and sometimes does not happen before age 40. Fractures and other trauma to the thumb joint could place you in danger for developing arthritis in the future.
What are the Signs and Symptoms?
Some patients with arthritis at the base of the thumb never have symptoms. Others have crippling and severe pain at an early age.
The earliest symptom of thumb arthritis is pain at the base of the thumb (the heel of the palm) with pinching, gap jars, or after long periods of writing. Turning keys or opening door knobs might conjointly be painful.
Weather changes (such as before it rains) might produce pain in the thumb. Significant repetitive use might also cause deep aching in the thumb. As the arthritis gets worse, the strength of pinching gets weaker and serious activity is not required to make the thumb painful.
Patients with advanced arthritis may feel a grinding/crunching sensation with even small movements of the thumb, and also the thumb joint may start to appear enlarged, swollen, or "out of place". The joint at the base of the thumb becomes very stiff at this point.
Other joints further out towards the tip of the thumb might become looser and a lot of deformed to catch up on the stiffness at the thumb base.
How is that the diagnosis created?
Arthritis at the base of the thumb is diagnosed by history (the story of how symptoms develop) and physical examination.
The base joint (CMC joint) is tender to bit and you can typically feel crunching or grinding because the joint is moved in an exceedingly circular pattern. Swelling is sometimes present around the joint.
Alternative conditions in the identical space might cause an identical appearance, such as tendonitis and arthritis in other joints of the wrist and thumb.
X-rays are helpful for confirming the specific joint involved with arthritis, though the appearance of the joint on x-ray might not match how the patient feels.
There are many x-ray views ordered by your hand surgeon that show the arthritis additional clearly than those ordered by your family doctor. These additional views are particularly helpful in delicate cases, where the diagnosis isn't obvious on regular x-rays of the hand or wrist.
The swelling, tenderness, or abnormal motion of different joints nearby may conjointly reinforce the diagnosis of arthritis at the base of the thumb.
How is it treated?
Arthritis at the bottom of the thumb is treated like arthritis elsewhere within the body:
? limited motion or use
? splinting
? anti-inflammatory drugs (pills or creams)
? heat therapy (heat/hot water soaks)
Cortisone (steroid) injections in the joint might give some important relief for several months. This could be done together with the higher than strategies or once they need failed to supply pain relief.
When non-surgical treatments fail to produce adequate pain relief, surgery ought to be considered.
Author Resource:
Ethel Holmes has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Hand Wrist Pain, you can also check out latest website about
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