De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis is basically a temporary medical condition by which the bottom side of your thumb or the side of your wrist starts paining. Sometimes it even gets sore or swell which increases the pain of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis.
This problem usually arises due to the over usage of this muscle in routine but there could be other reasons too. To find out the correct reason, a proper diagnosis of this problem is required which can be only done by a Professional Medical Practitioner. Let’s see how;
The Diagnosis:
For the treatment of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis, first, it is required that it should be diagnosed perfectly and for diagnose, we require a Physiotherapist who will press the thumb side of the area of your wrist to examine whether the pain arises with the pressure put on it or not.
For further diagnosis of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis, the Finkelstein Test would also need to be performed by which the Physio doctor will press the thumb towards your palm and then your fingers will be overlapped on your thumb. Then your wrist will bend down towards your little finger. If the pain arises after this movement, then you are surely having this De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis medical problem. Further other medical tests with images like X-ray reports are usually don’t required in this type of diagnosis.
The Home Treatments for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis:
Now once this De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis is diagnosed, then all you need to have a correct treatment that will reduce the inflammation of the tendons so that it could move freely in your wrist area. Here you can easily opt for some home remedies for De Quervain’s treatment which are as follows:
Start with the Rest: Firstly, start with reducing the wrist and thumb movement for a few days. Here you completely need to avoid hard gripping or any kind of repetitive activity with your hand that pressurizes the painful area. Further, you can use a pillow and rest your hand over it while you sleep.
Modifying the physical activities: Some activities like sports that involve your hard wrist movements are completely needed to be avoided because these kinds of activities could give a chance to the inflammation to easily rise and increase the pain of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis in your wrist.
Using a Brace or Splint: If the pain is severe, then you can use the Splint or Brace to wear for twenty-four hours for at least four weeks. Wearing the Splint regularly for hours and days will help your thumb in immobilizing that will certainly reduce your pain.
Use of Ice Pack: The Ice Pack Therapy usually helps in reducing the inflammation and pain of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. You can use the Ice Pack in the affected area for at least ten to fifteen minutes nearly four to five times a day.
The Treatment without Surgery:
If the pain is severe, then surely you need a doctor’s advice for treating De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis where various methods can be adopted rather than surgery to give you relief from your pain. It usually takes four to six weeks for a without surgery treatment which totally depends on the nature of the pain. Below are the given without surgery options which you can adopt for your treatment:
The Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): To treat the pain of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis, the doctors mainly prescribe you to either have the medicine named Ibuprofen (Advil) or to have Naproxen (Alieve). The other pain relief medicine such as Aspirin would also be appropriate to suggest.
The Physio Therapy Sessions: A Physiotherapist would be highly beneficial in the case of severe pain as he/she can assist the patient with few exercises for the hand and wrist movement without having stress on the pain area. These exercises will help you in doing the basic day to day tasks without having further pain.
Treatment with Steroid Injections:
This method could be adopted when the above given measures failed to get relief from the pain. The doctor will apply the Cortisone Injection in the pain area. Here more than 80% of the patients start getting relief from the De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis pain when they receive two-three injections on the pain area in the six weeks course.
But these injections have also a major drawback that it could give you a side effect. Out of all treated patients with Cortisone Injection, 25% of the patients receive the adverse effect of Cortisone flare.
Treatment with Surgery:
The above given treatments usually work for approximately 80-90% of patients with this problem. But if your case is more critical than others then the doctors will recommend you surgery. In this procedure of surgery, the doctors will observe the sheath which covers the tendons and will open it so that it could release the pressure and the tendons could move freely.
The after surgery prescriptions will also be provided to you like how to rehabilitate, how to rest, how to strengthen the area.
Conclusion:
The De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis problem is getting popular these days. To treat this problem correctly, it is essential for a doctor to diagnose the exact reason for your pain. Because without understanding the reason for the pain, it couldn’t be treated properly.