When it comes to conditions that can affect your hand throughout your life, trigger finger is one of the most common.
“’Trigger finger’ is a description of what the finger feels and even looks like when symptoms pop up,” explained Dr. Edward R. Blocker, M.D., board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Beaufort Memorial Orthopaedic Specialists. “After making a fist or closing your hand around an object, the trigger finger will catch – or ‘trigger’ – as you try to straighten it back out.”
These triggering episodes can be mild or painful. There is often a nodule that can be felt in the palm at the base of the triggering finger.
Although it may feel like the problem is in your knuckle, it’s caused by an issue with the tendon that controls your finger.
“Muscles pull the tendons, which then move the fingers. There are tendons on the palm side of your hand that, when pulled, cause your finger or thumb to flex down into your palm to make a fist,” he said. “The tendons on the backside of your hand pull your fingers back out straight.”
The tendons that flex your finger down are more complex than the ones that straighten them out. These flexor tendons pass through a sheath as they slide back and forth to move your fingers. At times, the tendon can get hung up as it passes through this sheath. This causes the finger to “trigger.”
Trigger finger is generally simple to treat, and patients have a few different treatment options:
• Let it resolve on its own – In some cases, trigger finger can resolve by itself if you give it time.
• Anti-inflammatory medication – Anti-inflammatories like Advil or Motrin can quiet down the inflammation around the tendon so that it can glide through its sheath without getting caught. Not everyone can take anti-inflammatory medication, so if in doubt, check with your medical provider.
• Cortisone injection near the tendon – Cortisone is a strong steroidal anti-inflammatory that is applied right at the source of the problem, which can soothe the inflammation and allow the tendon to glide without catching.
• Surgery – A simple outpatient procedure can be done to open the area of the tendon sheath where the triggering occurs. This will also allow the tendon to glide back and forth more easily.
Dr. Blocker said that generally, if a patient makes an appointment with him for trigger finger, they’ve already put up with the issue for a while, often with anti-inflammatory medication, without any relief. His recommendation then is the cortisone injection.
“Sometimes a patient will say they don’t want an injection because it’s ‘just temporary,’” he said. “However, an injection can sometimes cure the problem and is therefore usually worth a try before resorting to surgery.”
For patients that have persistent, bothersome triggering that hasn’t been relieved by other options, surgery has a high likelihood of success.
Trigger finger, while it isn’t debilitating, can certainly be annoying. Talk to your medical provider about which treatment option will work best for you.
