I’m Dale Rader. I’m a board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon at EmergeOrtho. Today, we’re going to talk about various abnormalities in orthopedics.
A trigger finger is when your tendon catches or locks. Your tendons actually run in a sheath
and are made to glide back and forth in the sheath. Sometimes the sheath becomes very thickened, and it grabs the tendon. The tendon either catches or locks, and you have to forcibly move your finger to get it unstuck.
Symptoms of trigger finger include catching, locking, or pain in the finger and stiffness, especially in the morning since you have not moved your fingers all night. Often, patients’ fingers are stuck down. They have to move it forcefully to dislodge it. Typically, pain, catching, and locking are the main symptoms of trigger finger.
Like most treatments in orthopedics, conservative management is going to be your first
line of treatment. We are orthopedic surgeons, but we try to get things better however we can.
Typically, that starts without surgery. For trigger finger, in particular, conservative treatments can include splinting, occupational therapy, and sometimes corticosteroid injections.
A truly stuck trigger finger brings most patients in to see us. Patients who wake up with their finger stuck in a bent position can run it under warm water and gradually bend it out and straighten it to loosen it up. Often, these patients will come in, and we will administer an injection to dislodge it.
Sometimes, if caught early on, trigger finger can improve on its own. The earlier we treat it, the better the results are going to be long-term. Often, we give patients a steroid injection. If it is caught very early, that is all they will need. The injection may last for years, and the trigger finger may never return. Trigger fingers that have been stuck for an extended period of time, where the sheath has become more and more thickened, typically will not respond to conservative treatments.
Hand therapy can help trigger finger. We often will recommend patients for therapy, where they will be shown different stretching exercises. Therapists may also recommend splints that can be worn at night and throughout the day.
Sometimes, the conservative treatments for trigger finger are not effective or may only provide temporary relief. Some patients will get several months of relief from the therapy and injections, but often the pain comes back. That is when we consider surgery.
Trigger finger surgery is minimally invasive, involving a very small incision in the
palm of the hand. Surgery takes 10 minutes or less, and recovery time is 3–4 weeks. In short, the procedure has a quick recovery, a very short surgery time, and very low morbidity in terms of surgical complications. Patients respond very well to the surgical intervention.
Typically, trigger surgery is a permanent fix. Patients can have recurrent trigger fingers, but it is pretty rare. They may develop trigger finger in other fingers that have not had surgery.
As with any orthopedic condition, the sooner you see a specialist, the easier it is to treat. We would recommend coming in sooner rather than later. The earlier you are treated, the more likely it is that we can resolve the symptoms completely. Injections are particularly effective if the symptoms are early on. Trigger finger responds really well to an injection, so much so that you may not need any other treatments.
In our new facility, we provide orthopedic urgent care, allowing you to walk in at any time. There is no waiting. If you walk in the door during opening hours, you will be seen. That is a service that is new to the Statesville market and adds a whole new avenue for patients to receive care when they need it.
