MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Long story short - I had a stupid crash over Christmas and hyper-extended my thumb which was very swollen and painful for a while. Now, 5 months down the line, my MCP joint is still swollen, esp on the palmer surface. Any rotational movement (unscrewing things, turning keys etc) still hurts and any prolonged riding, esp Downhilling, leaves me with a painful swollen joint. I've had Xrays (no fracture) and the helpful GP just told me there was a lot of soft tissue swelling, it was probably always going to hurt and there's nothing I can do.....
My problem is I'm off to France for the Mega in 6 weeks and I'm getting worried.
Has anyone here had similar injury and tried physio/chiropractor/other treatment with any success. I'm quite happy to pay someone but equally I don't want to throw money away for no benefit.
So I throw myself open to the STW advice/abuse mill. And yes, I know, MTFU 🙁
1. Shave your hand and wrist.
2. Learn to tape your thumb in a thumb spica style way.
I've looked for pics on the net but can't find any.
Do it when ever you ride.
What are you taking for it?
I've thought about something like that but gear shifts may be entertaining with a strapped up thumb?Learn to tape your thumb in a thumb spica style way
[b]ryan_c[/b] - I can't take NSAIDs as I'm allergic (asthma) so I'm stuck with paracetomol/Co-Codemol and "complimetary medicine".
Get some playdough type stuff and strengthen the muscles in your thumb.
Has it been X-rayed again, and is their any pain on pressing the "anatomical snuff box"/radial fossa?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_snuff_box
Might be that you've knackered your scaphoid, which doesn't always show up on initial x-ray, but can cause longer terms problems through not healing. Thumb spica might help to support it, but if there is a deeper problem it won't really help with that.
a couple of years ago i over extended my thumb whilst climbing.... it hurt like hell so i had an x-ray, they saw that there was a slight displacement so they put a pot on my thumb (it was a pink girlie one)... two weeks later the pot came off and everything was fine... back to normal..
sooooo have an x-ray as soon as poss especially if your off to france ( two weeks with a pot on is nowt... you,ll be sorted fro France then....gud luck with it...
If it was isolated hyper-extension and only at the MCPJ then it [i]shouldn't[/i] be a scaphoid. However if it was hyperextension + FOOSH (fall on outstretched hand) then it could be I suppose.
Did anyone ever test to see if your radial and ulnar collateral ligaments were intact?? They sit either side of the MCPJ and stop it bending to far one way or another, easily injured with a hyperextension type injury. If one was just sprained/torn a bit they can just take ****ing ages to settle (my right thumb is still a little weak after I hyperextended it playing footy approx 20 years ago), if one was ruptured surgery can be the best answer.
Death
(It's like an A&E clinic on here tonight....)
[b]missingfrontallobe[/b] "Snuff box" is fine thanks :).
For the most part, the pain is very much localised to the palmer MCP joint and a region just proximal to this.
[b]elaine anne[/b] Pink girlie cast sounds cool - might go with that anyway 🙂
[b]Dr_Death[/b] - it wasn't really a true FOOSH injury - I was pulling up on the bars trying to manual a ditch, mis-judged it and landed heavily on the up slope and must have over extended my thumb as I went over the bars 😕
Re the co-lateral ligaments, After a quick google anatomy lesson, the pain is roughly around the origin of the RCL so I guess that could be a source. Everything feel stable though so poss just a strain.
Thanks for the info - don't you just love relaxing after work 😉
look up maitland mobilisations and give some grade 2s a go on that joint see if they take the pain away.
That just seems to be a wiggle-your-thumb-but-not-too-much sort of exercise! I've got a powerball I might start using again too - see how that goes.
Ok, thanks for the advice guys. I might still see about some physio - keen to get this as sorted as it can be for July...
fbk - before you dismiss it you should know that it is one of the cornerstones of physiotherapy. Try that and the playdough type stuff and see what happens. Worked for me.
[b]Obi_twa[/b] Ok, fair comment - I'm willing to try anything at this stage.
Sorry if it seemed like I was criticising the technique - I know very little about it. Just making an observation 🙂