What late effects can occur?

In most cases, a joint capsule injury to the thumb heals without any long-term consequences. Only in complicated cases involving tendons, ligaments or bones are long-term restrictions to be feared:

For example, in about one in five cases of a torn capsule in the thumb with simultaneous flexor vision injury, the hand is left with reduced mobility.
A further possible late consequence of joint injuries can generally be premature wear and tear (rhizarthrosis or thumb saddle joint arthrosis), which, in addition to a functional impairment, can manifest itself in the form of pain during movement. The risk of this is particularly increased in the case of bony ligament ruptures within the framework of the capsule rupture at the thumb.

Associated symptoms

If a rupture of the capsule occurs in the thumb, this is usually indicated by a rupture of the capsule:

Sudden severe pain.
In addition, the affected joint usually swells up within a short period of time.
Mobility is suspended or at least severely restricted.
If a blood vessel was also damaged during the injury, a bruise may also form.
As a further accompanying symptom in a particularly severe injury with extensive rupture of the capsule at the thumb, the thumb is often additionally dislocated or in an unnatural position.
Irritation of nerve tracts can cause additional symptoms such as tingling or numbness.

Pain in a ruptured capsule in the thumb is usually the symptom that is most important in such an injury. If necessary, the symptom can be controlled by temporarily taking an analgesic medication and cooling.

Usually immediately after the causative event, such as a ball hitting a sports field, a sharp, bright pain sets in.
After a few minutes, the character changes more into throbbing, dull pain.
Typically, the pain is increased when trying to move the thumb.
In addition, pain triggered by slight lateral pressure on the affected joint indicates a rupture of the capsule in the thumb.

Normally, a healthy joint capsule provides the amount of synovial fluid needed for joint function by balancing the production and removal of synovial fluid.

If the capsule ruptures at the thumb, synovial fluid leaks out, deposits in the surrounding tissue and cannot be immediately removed. The result is swelling, which forms soon after the triggering event. In addition, the body’s own defense system reacts with an inflammatory reaction to the damage in the form of a torn capsule in the thumb.

This leads to increased blood circulation and additional fluid retention due to the dilatation of the smallest blood vessels.The swelling caused by a capsule injury can be counteracted to a certain extent by cooling. A rupture of the capsule in the thumb can lead to bone splintering in the affected joint as an accompanying injury. These injuries occur when the capsule itself or a ligament together with a splinter is torn out of its bony anchoring.

An involvement of bony structures in a torn capsule on the thumb can usually be detected by an x-ray of the hand, so that if the doctor suspects this, this examination should be carried out. A bone splinter cannot usually heal on its own, but must be repaired by surgery. The loosened part of the bone is reattached to its original position, for example with a small wire.