Duration

The length of time it takes for an inflammation of the thumb tendon to heal depends on the severity and spread of the inflammation on the one hand, and on the other hand on whether a treatment has been carried out consistently. The more consistently an immobilization of the thumb joint is carried out after the first signs of inflammation, the quicker the healing and the limitation of the inflammatory reaction will occur. A quickly healing inflammation of the thumb will no longer cause any complaints after only one week. Severe progressions, as well as insufficient cooling or protection, may require 2-3 weeks, sometimes even more than a month, of necessary treatment. If the treatment is not sufficiently effective, a new diagnosis should be made in any case to determine whether the pain is due to another cause.

Causes

Muscles end in tendons, which then attach to the bone and ensure that the smooth movement of the muscle can be guaranteed. During a muscle movement, numerous frictional forces are generated not only in the area of the muscle, but also at the respective tendons. This friction can cause irritation in the area of the tendon, which then begins to inflame.

Some tendons lead through so-called tendon sheaths, which mainly have a protective function and ensure a reduction of the frictional forces. If strong friction and inflammation occur in such a tendon sheath, this is called tendosynovitis. However, all free-running tendons can also become inflamed by increased mechanical friction, which is then only referred to as tendonitis. Excessive friction is almost always caused by overloading or incorrect loading. If movements in the thumb are particularly strong, or the corresponding movement is unusual, friction can be so strong that the tendon and parts of the muscle begin to become inflamed.

Diagnosis

Often, tendinitis of the thumb is a clinical diagnosis that can be made without further diagnostic tests. First of all, the patient is asked how long the symptoms have been present in the area and whether particularly heavy or unusual work has been performed. Then the doctor will examine the thumb joint and see whether the pain can be triggered by pressure or whether it exists at rest and during movement.

Indicated pain in the area of the thumb joint that occurs during thumb movement would be typical of the presence of tendonitis. If there is any doubt, an ultrasound imaging examination can also be performed. Tendinitis of the thumb would only be seen if the inflammation is pronounced and also if the tendon sheaths are also affected.

In this case, there would be a thickening of the tendon of the thumb or a sticking of the tendon in the vagina.The patient is asked to bend and stretch the thumb. This is to check whether the tendon of the thumb slides in the tendon sheath as usual. If the tendon stops and does not move forwards and backwards, there is a strong suspicion of a tendosynovitis of the thumb. Although other imaging procedures, such as an MRI examination, can be used, due to the high costs and the lack of diagnostic superiority before clinical and ultrasound diagnostics, an MRI examination is only performed if the findings are unclear or if treatment is not effective.