(WYTV) — Does your thumb hurt, or maybe your wrist? This pain goes by several names: “mother’s thumb,” “mommy wrist” and “gamer’s thumb,” and it all has to do with using your hands and wrist over and over.
It can cause extreme pain in the wrist and thumb area. While the exact cause is not known, there are specific treatment options that can help.
Orthopedic surgeons say this is mostly a problem in the tendons.
“If you think of the wrist, basically what we have here is that we have the tendons, which move your thumb, and they are covered by this band, and this is natural,” said Dr. Sanjeev Kakar, an orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic. “We all have this, but in certain patients, they can have inflammation in this area.”
When the tendons beneath this band become inflamed, they can cause intense pain. Therapy and wearing a splint may help. Also, a corticosteroid injection can reduce the inflammation, and most of the time, it gets better.
And there’s always surgery if nothing else works. The surgeon will open a sheath surrounding the tendon to release pressure and allow the tendons to glide more freely and pain-free.
