If you feel pain and discomfort when you turn your wrist or even when you first your hands, you may have De Quervain syndrome and you don’t know it! Although there is still no exact cause for this complication, some activities such as racket sports, lifting children, and heavy activities during the day can cause severe pain in the hands and wrists. In the following, we will examine this condition’s causes, symptoms, and treatment solutions together. You can use the list below for easy access to the article.
Symptoms of De Quervain Syndrome or Blackberry Thumb
Many people suffer from wrist diseases. De Quervain’s syndrome or blackberry thumb is one of the common diseases of the wrist, and like any other complication, it is associated with signs and symptoms that, if diagnosed in time, can prevent the complications and consequences of this condition. Some of the most important symptoms of De Quervain syndrome are:
- Feeling of pain and swelling near the joint at the end of the thumb
- Making it difficult to move the hand during some daily activities or even lift objects
- Feeling of stickiness and lack of movement in the wrist when moving it
- Shocking sound when the tendons move in the swollen sheaths
Causes of De Quervain Syndrome
De Quervain syndrome is usually more common in women than men, especially during pregnancy or over 40 years of age, this complication may occur. The most common cause of De Quervain syndrome is overuse of the wrist. Performing repetitive movements day after day causes irritation and pain. Pain in the wrist and even the thumb muscle often has no specific cause, but its origin can be the following:
• Snapping the thumb
• History of certain diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis
• Doing some heavy and repetitive activities at work
• Excessive use of a body part
• Doing gardening activities or even taking children for a walk
What Are The Effective Factors in Causing De Quervain Syndrome?
Various factors are involved in the development of this complication, and knowing them will help you to a great extent to be able to recognize the symptoms of this disease and see a doctor on time. Some of the most important factors affecting the development of De Quervain syndrome are as follows:
• Age:
Usually, people who are between 30 and 50 years old, are most likely to get this condition.
• Gender:
As mentioned, De Quervain syndrome is more common in women over 40 years old, and it is not bad to know that women will suffer from this disease 8 to 10 times more than men. (Thumb pain may occur during pregnancy or even after pregnancy by repeatedly lifting the baby!)
• Excessive wrist movement:
It doesn’t matter whether you are playing games or doing everyday activities! If you move your wrist too much, you will develop this condition.
Neck Pain Relief Exercise
Treatment of De Quervain Syndrome
Usually, the goal of therapeutic solutions is to relieve inflammation and pain in the thumb area and even prevent its recurrence. The first thing to do is to let your thumb and wrist rest and if possible, avoid activities that make the pain worse! But in some cases, the doctor will prescribe you use of special drugs!
Drugs for De Quervain Syndrome
Medicines such as ibuprofen or naproxen, which are anti-inflammatory, will usually be prescribed for pain relief. If medications are ineffective, local anesthetic and steroid injections can be beneficial. However, in some cases, more than one injection is required.
De Quervain Syndrome and Physiotherapy
At the same time as taking medicine, you can do some physical therapy activities to treat this disease. Physiotherapists will usually teach you various exercises to strengthen your wrist and arm. Some of the most important physical therapy and therapeutic exercises for this disease are:
Manual treatments or manual therapy
manual therapy exercises are effective in reducing pain and increasing joint function, as an effective method in improving wrist and thumb pain.
Laser Therapy
Physiotherapists can treat your pain with the help of advanced methods such as Cryotherapy and laser therapy.
Magnet Therapy
Magnet therapy by stimulating body tissues and cells effectively improves all body pains, especially in the hands, back, and legs.
Dry Needling
Dry needling or dry needling is an effective and widely used treatment technique in physiotherapy, which can have many effects for improving chronic and long-term wrist and thumb pain.
Cold Therapy
Cold therapy will help your wrist and thumb inflammation a lot. Putting ice on the inflamed area will help a lot in relieving your pain.
In addition to the mentioned treatment solutions, physiotherapists will usually prescribe splints for you in most cases. The splint can keep your wrist and thumb stable and you usually need to use it for 4-6 weeks during daily activities.
Diagnosing the complication of De Quervain syndrome
Usually, the first step in diagnosing De Quervain syndrome is for your doctor to examine your wrist and thumb to find out if your hand feels painful when you press on the thumb of your wrist.
Some physical medicine specialists use the Feinstein test to diagnose this disease. Doing this test is very simple; To do this, first, you bend your thumb so that it rests in your palm.
Then make a fist and close your fingers on the thumb. Finally, you bend your wrist toward your little finger. If you have sensitivity and pain at the base of your fingers, you probably have De Quervain syndrome! However, imaging tests, such as X-rays, are not usually needed to diagnose De Quervain syndrome.
Surgery for De Quervain's syndrome or Blackberry thumb
Your doctor rarely prescribes surgery to treat this condition. Of course, timely identification of De Quervain syndrome and a timely visit to the doctor will help you to treat this disease easily with physiotherapy solutions.
If surgery is required, it is usually done under local anesthesia and the surgeon makes a small incision in the sheath around the swollen tendons. This provides more room for the tendons to move. Even after the operation, you should do physical therapy to strengthen your wrist and thumb. This will help prevent disease.
Corrective Exercises and Movements for De Quervain Syndrome
Some endurance exercises as well as stretching exercises will help a lot in improving wrist and thumb pain. Some of the most important wrist physiotherapy exercises are as follows. It is better to perform each of the exercises under the supervision of a physiotherapist:
Pushing the tennis ball
You can squeeze a tennis ball in your hands until you feel no pain. It is better to press the ball for 5 seconds and repeat this movement 10 times.
Stretching the wrist with a tightrope
Wrap a tight rope around your fingers and place your palms facing each other. Your elbow should be bent at a 90-degree angle. The forearm should be held with the help of the other hand and slowly twist your wrist and wrist against the rope by contracting the arm muscle. Do this movement in 3 steps with 10 repetitions.
Forearm Rotation:
Do this movement with your elbow bent at 90 degrees. Roll your palm up and down as far as possible without feeling any pain. Do this exercise 10 times.
Wrist flexion stretch:
Keep your elbow straight and push your wrist back with the help of your other hand. It is better to hold this movement for 15 seconds and repeat it 4 times.
If you feel pain and discomfort when you turn your wrist or even when you first your hands, you may have De Quervain syndrome and you don’t know it! Although there is still no exact cause for this complication, some activities such as racket sports, lifting children, and heavy activities during the day can cause severe pain in the hands and wrists. In the following, we will examine this condition’s causes, symptoms, and treatment solutions together. You can use the list below for easy access to the article.
