"Trigger Finger" Anyone?

[Steelman]

Good to hear you guys are pushing on in spite of age (I am looking at 79) and its accompanying ills.

My hand problem is a (self-diagnosed) CMC joint pain: that's the base of the thumb. So far, CBD cream is helping and I occasionally wear a brace just to stabilize the joint for a few hours. Last resort? Surgery. Luckily we have good orthopedics here in Rhode Island. One hand surgeon comes highly recommended.

 

[Boneman]

Is there any swelling in the trigger finger or just pain? I don't have pain, but I've noticed the base of my left middle finger recently looks swollen and has a hardness in there almost like a callous under the skin. No other fingers appear that way. Should probably have it checked out but it's not bothering me and I have no loss of movement so I figure eh, maybe if it starts hurting or limiting my ability to play guitar

Best of luck to you and wishing for a speedy recovery!

 

[kitniyatran]

Mine has swelling in the knuckle. There's some pain, & a tendency to lock in bent position randomly, which can hurt more, & usually requires pulling it straight with the other hand.

 

[West R Lee]

Is there any swelling in the trigger finger or just pain? I don't have pain, but I've noticed the base of my left middle finger recently looks swollen and has a hardness in there almost like a callous under the skin. No other fingers appear that way. Should probably have it checked out but it's not bothering me and I have no loss of movement so I figure eh, maybe if it starts hurting or limiting my ability to play guitar

Best of luck to you and wishing for a speedy recovery!

No swelling with mine, just pain. The only real mobility loss I have is the inability to curl my finger back towards my palm all the way. I visited the best hand surgeon around today and if there's one thing I really like in a surgeon, it's when they try to avoid surgery until it's the very last resort........that's Dr. Clark. I think he suspects an issue in my index knuckle at the palm joint. Surprisingly, he told me that for what he suspects, even an MRI isn't definitive. He wants me to do therapy and I've never heard of this, but will sure try it. He's called in some type of topical ointment that the pharmacist mixes, then I take the ointment, which obviously is topical, to the therapist and they use something he said was similar to a sonogram machine to electrically inject this stuff into me finger joints, then manipulate it. He said it's going to hurt, but at this point, I'll try anything.

Good luck with yours kit and Boneman. I'd see a good hand doctor if I were you. Permanent loss of mobility is what really concerned me, so I'm trying to head off any potential long term effects at the pass. Let us know how you do.

West

 

[West R Lee]

Welp, just an update and a bit interesting to me, and possibly to some of you. First of all, my hand surgeon wasn't convinced my condition is in fact "trigger finger", and frankly isn't sure what it is. Dr. Clark explained that even an MRI wouldn't be definitive as I think he suspects a "soft tissue" injury in the knuckle next to my hand. Dr. Clark prescribed physical therapy, and I've always been a big believer in good physical therapists as I've seen the good ones work wonders with me. So with an open mind, today and yesterday, I had therapy sessions.

Yesterday I was put with a lady therapist that really didn't accomplish much, but in fairness, she was primarily doing an evaluation, though she did do some minor joint manipulation, then a tape job. Well today, for session 2, I saw a 27 year young therapist and we talked for about 5 minutes. To my surprise, he was already aware that two my hobby loves are golf and guitar. To my shock, he goes back in the back of the clinic and comes out with a set of golf clubs, AND a Fender acoustic guitar. When I looked so surprised he smiled and said, "You're two hobbies just happen to be the most popular hobbies we are able to get our patients back into". Now I'm interested! From there the young therapist sat in front of me with a computer screen in front of him, monitoring what I'd call a schematic of every component in the hand. He'd push here pull there and ask me how it felt? Then again. After about 45 minutes of this he comes back with a roll of "K tape" and starts a tape job and manipulates some more. After a full hour of this I finally looked at him and asked if he had any idea about what's going on in there. He said. 'Well Jim, I don't do diagnoses, but I'm pretty sure you've strained and pulled tendons in there playing golf. All I'm doing is providing support on the side that are strained and actually pulling you finger back in line." He also said it was something he felt strongly could be remedied via therapy, and I like the sound of that.

And no, no golf or guitar today, but he said he'd get me there.

The therapist asked me to postpone my appointment with the surgeon to give us a little time and it sure sounded good to me. The Dr.'s office said, "Yes, by all means, we'll give you another month."

West

 

[Rocky]

Awesome!

 

[fronobulax]

Welp, just an update and a bit interesting to me, and possibly to some of you. First of all, my hand surgeon wasn't convinced my condition is in fact "trigger finger", and frankly isn't sure what it is. Dr. Clark explained that even an MRI wouldn't be definitive as I think he suspects a "soft tissue" injury in the knuckle next to my hand. Dr. Clark prescribed physical therapy, and I've always been a big believer in good physical therapists as I've seen the good ones work wonders with me. So with an open mind, today and yesterday, I had therapy sessions.

Yesterday I was put with a lady therapist that really didn't accomplish much, but in fairness, she was primarily doing an evaluation, though she did do some minor joint manipulation, then a tape job. Well today, for session 2, I saw a 27 year young therapist and we talked for about 5 minutes. To my surprise, he was already aware that two my hobby loves are golf and guitar. To my shock, he goes back in the back of the clinic and comes out with a set of golf clubs, AND a Fender acoustic guitar. When I looked so surprised he smiled and said, "You're two hobbies just happen to be the most popular hobbies we are able to get our patients back into". Now I'm interested! From there the young therapist sat in front of me with a computer screen in front of him, monitoring what I'd call a schematic of every component in the hand. He'd push here pull there and ask me how it felt? Then again. After about 45 minutes of this he comes back with a roll of "K tape" and starts a tape job and manipulates some more. After a full hour of this I finally looked at him and asked if he had any idea about what's going on in there. He said. 'Well Jim, I don't do diagnoses, but I'm pretty sure you've strained and pulled tendons in there playing golf. All I'm doing is providing support on the side that are strained and actually pulling you finger back in line." He also said it was something he felt strongly could be remedied via therapy, and I like the sound of that.

And no, no golf or guitar today, but he said he'd get me there.

The therapist asked me to postpone my appointment with the surgeon to give us a little time and it sure sounded good to me. The Dr.'s office said, "Yes, by all means, we'll give you another month."

West

I thought that was so cool that the therapist could accommodate your hobbies that I told Mrs. Fro. She listened politely but then told me her physical therapist used a tennis racquet because that was something Mrs. Fro. was doing a lot of. I guess my only physical therapy was recovering from a broken leg and walking isn't a hobby so...

 

[Stuball48]

Great news West - You will be back on the course and playing those Old Collings before Christmas. Santa might bring you a new hybrid fairway club?

 

[chazmo]

Good luck, Jim!

 

[West R Lee]

I thought that was so cool that the therapist could accommodate your hobbies that I told Mrs. Fro. She listened politely but then told me her physical therapist used a tennis racquet because that was something Mrs. Fro. was doing a lot of. I guess my only physical therapy was recovering from a broken leg and walking isn't a hobby so...

Oh gosh Fro, I've been to so much therapy for so many different surgeries over the years. That's what's made me such a believer. Maybe 12 years ago, I had a 2 level fusion in my neck. So I've an 1 1/4" long titanium plate and 6 screws in there. 2 months after surgery, I was stuck. When I say that, I mean I had to turn at the torso to look to either side. That surgeon sent me to the same clinic I'm going to now. That therapist, the best I've ever met, who specializes in the spine, told me that he could restore my mobility, but that it was going to hurt, and hurt pretty badly. He almost brought this old man to tears on a few occasions, and that it might take a while But I've been playing golf ever since, and the golf swing requires a tremendous amount of neck twist. I've also done therapy after both knee surgery and elbow reconstruction. In all cases it's made all the difference. I'm hesitant to speak so soon regarding this finger, I don't want to jinx myself. I'd swear the young therapist has made it feel quite a bit better in just the one session with him.

The interesting thing about physical therapy to me is that after trauma, either injury or surgery, I think we tend to think, damn I'm sore, I'm not going to move it. But therapy does just the opposite. Once the therapists are confident they aren't going to injure anything, it's all about getting back to using the appendage, or neck or back. and the only way to restore movement is to move it, a lot and sometimes painfully.

West

 

[awagner]

Did anything else happen when he pulled your finger?

 

[West R Lee]

Did anything else happen when he pulled your finger?

Oh you should have heard it! They evacuated the clinic.

West

 

[GAD]

Oh gosh Fro, I've been to so much therapy for so many different surgeries over the years. That's what's made me such a believer. Maybe 12 years ago, I had A 2 level fusion in my neck. So I've an 1 1/4" long titanium plate and 6 screws in there. 2 months after surgery, I was stuck. When I say that, I mean I had to turn at the torso to look to either side. That surgeon sent me to the same clinic I'm going to now. That therapist, the best I've ever met, who specializes in the spine, told me that he could restore my mobility, but that it was going to hurt, and hurt pretty badly. He almost brought this old man to tears on a few occasions, and that it might take a while But I've been playing golf ever since, and the golf swing requires a tremendous amount of neck twist. I've also done therapy after both knee surgery and elbow reconstruction. In all cases it's made all the difference. I'm hesitant to speak so soon regarding this finger, I don't want to jinx myself. I'd swear the young therapist has made it feel quite a bit better in just the one session with him.

The interesting thing about physical therapy to me is that after trauma, either injury or surgery, I think we tend to think, damn I'm sore, I'm not going to move it. But therapy does just the opposite. Once the therapists are confident they aren't going to injure anything, it's all about getting back to using the appendage, or neck or back. and the only way to restore movement is to move it, a lot and sometimes painfully.

West

Every surgeon I've worked with in the past 20 years has been 100% "do more PT" before they would even talk about surgery except for my shoulder where they removed an almost 2" calcification.

Physical therapy is freaking magic. Your body wants to heal and it was made to move. After my ACL surgery I had two physical therapists. The first, a huge muscular guy was pretty much a pussycat, but when he popped an adhesion in my knee I told him I was going to come back and kill them all. He said, "yeah - we get that a lot". This was in the mid-'90s. Today such a comment would result in SWAT showing up.

The second therapist was a woman who couldn't have weighed more than 110 pounds. She was brutal.

 

[West R Lee]

Every surgeon I've worked with in the past 20 years has been 100% "do more PT" before they would even talk about surgery except for my shoulder where they removed an almost 2" calcification.

Physical therapy is freaking magic. Your body wants to heal and it was made to move. After my ACL surgery I had two physical therapists. The first, a huge muscular guy was pretty much a pussycat, but when he popped an adhesion in my knee I told him I was going to come back and kill them all. He said, "yeah - we get that a lot". This was in the mid-'90s. Today such a comment would result in SWAT showing up.

The second therapist was a woman who couldn't have weighed more than 110 pounds. She was brutal.

And they did you some good GAD?

West

 

[davismanLV]

It kind of depends on what type of surgery or procedure you have. I had both heels rebuilt and the Achilles tendon detached, lengthened, and reattached from bone spurs. Took me a while to get motion back, but after 6 weeks non-weight bearing, it wasn't bad. Next was a knee replacement. That was rough, not as rough as a shoulder I hear, but rough. PT worked me to death and I thought they were tryna kill me. So when 8 months later they said I had to have the hip replaced on that same side, I was like, SERIOUSLY?? Whole different ball game!! At my 2 week post surgery followup with the surgeon, he said, "Where's your crutches or walker?" I said in the truck. He rolled his eyes and said, "Come out in the hallway and walk to the end and then turn around and come back." So I did and he said he thought PT was doing me a world of good. I told him that they couldn't get me in until next week. Then he asked me if I wanted to go to PT and based on my performance and pain level I said, "No." And he said, "Then don't go." Hips are a whole different story to knees and shoulders and such. And then I had the other knee replaced and it was HELLISH again. But I did it. Then the other hip was replaced, same as the first.... easy peasy.

From the waist down I'm pretty bionic, except for that one part. Mostly nylon and titanium. So PT is kind of dependent of what exactly you have done, and which joint and such.

 

[GAD]

My shoulder PT was rough but nothing has compared with ACL.

When I was doing my shoulder PT a woman was in there for ACL. She was not familiar with pain it seems and she she screamed and begged. The therapist wasn’t even phased and just said, “We’ve got a screamer!”

 

[davismanLV]

There was a lady I saw numerous times during all the PT that had just had her shoulder surgery. She used to cry and carry on. The therapists were fairly numb to her antics and they were serious task masters.

 

[kitniyatran]

I had a shoulder rotator cuff repair, with four anchors. PT hurt like the Dickens but I got my shoulder back!

 

[Opsimath]

My shoulder PT was rough but nothing has compared with ACL.

When I was doing my shoulder PT a woman was in there for ACL. She was not familiar with pain it seems and she she screamed and begged. The therapist wasn’t even phased and just said, “We’ve got a screamer!”

That's funny. Not that the lady was in pain, but that the therapists just take it in stride.

 

[West R Lee]

I had a shoulder rotator cuff repair, with four anchors. PT hurt like the Dickens but I got my shoulder back!

My wife has had surgery on both knees, and her shoulder. She'll tell you she'd do 10 knees to one shoulder. I'll never forget helping her with home therapy and her crying like a baby.

West