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Pain in the Thumb
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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[Causes of the pain in the thumb
There may be several, and almost all are caused by diseases - acute or chronic.
Raynaud's syndrome
This is a common reason that the thumb of the right or left hand can hurt. With Raynaud's syndrome, a characteristic sign is the numbness of the first, second and third fingers (one or two). The thumb of the hand can be very painful, the pain or numbness becomes stronger as soon as the person raises his arm up.
Raynaud's syndrome can develop as a result of pregnancy, for reasons of accepting hormones for the purpose of contraception, because of prolonged and severe stress, rheumatoid arthritis can become the culprit.
Carpal tunnel syndrome
With carpal tunnel syndrome, the symptoms are similar to those that occur with Raynaud's syndrome. Disturbs pain in the thumb, as well as numbness in the first three fingers of the hand. Culprits of pain can be the repetition of permanent and monotonous movements with fingers or a brush with an overstrain in the joints and muscles. For example, if a person works at a computer a lot.
Then the nerve fibers have a tendency to become inflamed due to the fact that the blood flow in the hand and the roots of nerves are squeezed. The fingers hurt and (or) numb.
If you find yourself experiencing all these symptoms, contact your doctor for treatment - the pain itself does not happen, it has serious consequences for the body. To avoid it, you should not treat your fingers yourself, you need advice from a traumatologist, neuropathologist or therapist.
Polyostoarthrosis of the fingers of the hand (both hands)
This disease can be recognized by the nodules that form on the finger. Place their location - right at the thumb of the thumb. Doctors dubbed this disease knotty fingers because of its features. In the place where nodules are formed, the finger of the hand hurts, the pain resembles a burning sensation, like from nettles. The finger in the place where the nodules are located, and next to them, becomes red.
The risk group for this disease is a patient of 40 years of age.
Rheumatoid arthritis
In this disease, the thumb of the hand can be so painful that its movements become impossible or severely limited. Rheumatoid arthritis can cause various diseases, in particular, viral and bacterial infections, colds, trivial flu, prolonged stresses, hand injuries, temperature drop, both heat and cold.
Symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis can be pain in the thumb, as in other fingers, as well as deformation of the joints, their swelling, redness. Rheumatoid arthritis can be recognized by such a characteristic feature: the thumbs of both hands swell and ache.
In the risk group, there are more women than men. The age limits for rheumatoid arthritis are blurred, this disease can affect a person at any age.
Psoriatic arthritis
In psoriatic arthritis, the thumb of the left or right arm hurts, and it happens that both are together. Before the joints of the fingers swell, a person must endure a stage of the skin disease - psoriasis. With this disease, the skin becomes covered with whitish scales, a little later, pain in the phalanges of the fingers, especially the thumb, joins it.
Pain in the joints can be so strong that you need painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
Gouty Arthritis
With this kind of disease, pain and swelling strongly disturb, manifesting at the base of the finger. Pain and puffiness can be in the thumb, and in the big toe - these are the first swallows of gouty arthritis.
The pain is so strong that it is impossible for a person to move, pain of a cutting nature. Affected joints turn red, swell, hurt. At the person the temperature raises, there can be a headache, delicacy, the raised fatigability.
In the risk group - especially men, gout affects more of them than women. Gout is characterized by sharp and very severe pains, it is better not to bring them, but to treat the legs immediately, as the pain in the thumb was felt.
Pathogenesis
The thumb of the hand is slightly different from the rest of the fingers. It is shorter than the rest of the fingers due to the fact that it has only two phalanges - unlike the other fingers, where there are three phalanges.
The thumb of the hand is very important for a person, because it helps a person to take weights, grab uncomfortable objects. The thumb presses on the object from one side, and the other fingers on the other side, and the object is firmly held in the hand.
One thumb at grasping is the same strength as the other fingers put together. The reason is very large areas of the brain that are responsible for thumb movements, they are much larger in volume than those that control the movements of the other fingers.