Arthritis Trigger Finger: Causes And Therapy

Gripping a power tool or a musical instrument too tight for a protracted period of time may increase a person's chances of acquiring arthritis trigger finger. Moreover, with the fact that a person is in suffering from a previously determined medical condition such as arthritis, acquiring trigger finger he is also high for that particular person.

Like most forms of arthritis, this one is also dominant with women than with men.

Trigger finger is actually a condition wherein the fingers get abused, which then leads to an injury. Symptoms of this injury dwell from painless infuriation with infrequent snapping of the fingers and may advance to a serious dysfunction and twinge due to the continuous latching of the fingers in a tight position towards the patient's palm.  

Causes of Trigger Finger Arthritis 

Experts believe that the disorder is instigated by a tendon sheath that has gotten thick and swollen; it might also be the cause of the occurrence of tightness in the tendons which hinders it from slithering efficiently. Abuse or excessive usage of hands during leisure activities and during work is thought to be the most common cause of this problem.

Trigger finger is often caused by a direct injury in the tendons causing micro-tears, which might have been caused by an abrupt trauma, or by performing tasks which entail the use of the hands over and over again across long and extended periods. Naturally, our body would strive to heal itself the moment that it detects the presence of an injury. It is due to this healing phase that scar tissue develops. The inflammation serves as the secondary injury which is mainly caused by friction among the adhesions and the tendon sheaths as it begins to flex and extend in time.

The occurrence of friction brings about tenderness and inflammation to the union of the tendons with the tendon sheath, consequently, it ensues a cyclic recurrent injury. The repeated occurrence causes the naissance of trigger finger.

Sidebar: The next article in this group is about hand arthritis.

In addition, there are other factors that causetrigger finger such as rheumatoid arthritis, lacerations in our tendons and extended periods of clutching objects like the steering wheel. It may also be prompted by synovium infection or congenital failings in our tendons.

Trigger Finger Therapy

There is variation in the treatments that are employed in every trigger finger case; such treatments rely on the harshness and extent of the case.

For mild cases which have occasional symptoms, one may only need to rest his affected finger and make sure that it won't be abused again for quite some time as the doctor suggested. In some cases the experts suggest that one avoid activities which involve intense clutching. The use of a splint is also useful for it helps your fingers maintain a straight position for the duration. Finger exercises and massage also alleviate mild cases of trigger finger.

For the serious cases though, one might need to take Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to relieve the swelling and the pain that the patient is experiencing. Steroid medications were also proven to be useful in lessening the sheath's inflammation. If worse comes to worst the patient might need to undergo surgery to latch some tendons that causes arthritis trigger finger.