Proper diagnosis of the trigger finger does not need any kind of elaborate testing. Your doctor or even the health care provider will simply make the whole diagnosis based on your medical history and a physical exam. During the physical exam, your doctor will also ask you to open and close your hand, checking for some of the areas of pain, smoothness of motion and evidence of locking.
Doctor will mainly check the palm and feel it for seeing whether there is a lump present or not. And if your doctor can see that there is any kind of lump associated with the trigger finger, that lump will actually move as finger moves because the lump is an area of swelling in part of the tendon that moves the finger.
What are the Therapies needed?
Conservative non-invasive trigger finger treatments include:
Rest
Basically, for trigger finger injury one of the important and first things required is rest. If you are suffering through this, then all you need is to avoid some of the activities, which need the repetitive gripping until and unless your symptoms improve. In fact, if you cannot ignore all these activities altogether, then the padded gloves might just provide some protection.
A splint
Your doctor might have you wear the most reliable splint at night so that it can actually keep the affected finger in the extended position for up to six weeks. The splint helps rest the tendon. Splint is one of the amazing therapies to consider.
Stretching Exercises
There is nothing better than any kind of stretching exercise. So, when you are having any injury on the trigger finger apart from the splint, rest and medication, you will have to try to move your finger slowly and that will be a great help for you. You may feel the pain in the beginning but once you start doing the exercise, you will feel the comfort as well. Basically, these stretching exercises will help you in maintaining the mobility in your finger.
Surgical and Other Procedures
Steroid Injection
Apart from the general care, there are some surgical processes available, which are applicable to those who are having the severe injuries. An injection of the steroid medication near or into the tendon sheath might decrease the inflammation and permit the tendon to glide freely again. For people with diabetes, steroid injections tend to be less effective.
Percutaneous Release
This is one of the common surgeries, where your palm will be numbed by the medicine and then doctor will insert a sturdy needle into the tissue around your affected tendon. Doctor will move the needle and then finger helps in breaking apart the constriction.
What is the Downtime?
As per doctor’s concern, if the surgery gets done between 3-5 days, then this can be cured in 2 weeks along with proper medications.
Does it Hurt?
If your pain gets reduced by general care, then you will not feel any pain but if you go through a surgery, then you may feel the pain for 2-3 days after the surgery but that would be quite minimal.