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Thumb pain: causes and how to relieve it

by Alivia Nyhan
Published: Last Updated on

Today, people have significantly changed their lifestyles compared to earlier times, causing various disorders and discomforts that were not so common before to appear more frequently. A prominent example of this is the joint degeneration that more and more people suffer from it, at any age, from any part of the world and both men and women.

Any joint can wear out and cause various disorders that must be treated to maintain a good and healthy lifestyle. Although some parts of the body are more prone than others to suffer from this disorder, the alteration can be annoying and cause certain impediments in any place that appears, for example, on a finger.

It is possible that many people feel discomfort with the hand and do not know why. This time, in the following FastlyHealarticle, we provide you with all the information about pain in the thumb: causes and how to alleviate it, as it is one of the fingers usually most affected by this problem.

Causes of thumb pain

If you have asked yourself, “why does my thumb hurt?”, You will be interested to know that the most common cause of thumb discomfort are injuries, such as a fracture or a sprain, in which the cartilage is compromised of the carpometacarpal joint, mostly known as CMC, which is located at the base of the fingers. On some occasions, the damage that this cartilage suffers is not immediate and, in any case, it can affect the movement of the thumb.

The union or joint may be misaligned after suffering an injury, which causes the wear and tear of the joints to end in osteoarthritis, which will eventually occur. Although this disorder can be sustained by anyone, thumb osteoarthritis is more common in women over 40.

If you wonder how to relieve pain in the thumb, pay attention to the following lines in which we show you various exercises for the thumb.

Thumb exercise: make a fist

This exercise is suitable for performing when you feel stiffness in your hand and want to reduce it and the pain you may feel in your fingers, especially in the big toe. You can do this exercise frequently, at any time and place of the day. To start doing the first exercise, follow these steps:

  1. It would help if you extended the affected hand.
  2. Slowly, you have to grip the hand with the thumb towards the inside and place it in the palm.
  3. When the hand is in the shape of a fist, hold it for a few seconds, extend it and do the procedure again at least ten times.

It would help if you did this exercise without pressing since, in this case, the clinical picture can be damaged.

Thumb pain exercise: curl your finger

This exercise can be one of the most recommended to relieve thumb pain, as it offers excellent results. These are the steps to correctly do the training to curl the thumb and thus relieve pain:

  1. You have to extend the hand in which the discomfort is suffered and bend the thumb inwards, that is, against the palm.
  2. Next, you must stretch the lower sector of the little finger towards the commonly called big toe and hold the position for a few seconds.
  3. Finally, you can return to the original post and perform ten repetitions throughout the day.

Thumb exercise: raise your finger

Another ideal way to help alleviate the discomfort and pain that joint disorders can cause in the thumb is to perform a straightforward exercise in which you lift each finger of your hand as follows:

  1. Start by resting your injured hand on a table with your palm on the surface.
  2. Subsequently, you have to slowly lift the smallest finger of the hand outwards and repeat this action with each finger.
  3. When you have all your fingers raised, hold them in this way for at least 2 seconds and lower them. You can repeat this action several times a day with both hands when finished.

Thumb Relief Exercise: Wiggle Your Wrist

On numerous occasions, patients with arthritis encounter various pains. There may be discomfort in the wrist that extends to a specific finger, especially the thumb, or several fingers, so it is essential to perform wrist exercises to relieve symptoms. To do this wrist stretch, follow these directions:

  1. Begin by placing the sore hand palm up.
  2. With the other hand, gently and slowly apply downward pressure until you feel your entire arm and wrist stretch.
  3. Stay in this form for 10 seconds and switch hands, performing this exercise several times daily.

Thumb pain exercise: curl your finger up

If you are still wondering how to relieve thumb pain, this exercise can be highly recommended. Here are the steps to properly do the thumb upward bend or curl exercise :

  1. You have to place the edge of your little finger on the edge of a table and point your thumb up.
  2. Maintaining this position, bend the other three fingers towards the inside of the hand, forming an “L” between the thumb and little finger.
  3. Stay in this position for a few seconds, then return to the starting position and repeat ten times with each hand.

This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any type of diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any type of condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to Thumb pain: causes and how to relieve it , we recommend that you enter our Bones, Joints and Muscles category .

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