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Trigger Finger

Sarah69

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,502
Location
Hethersett, Norwich
Type of diabetes
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Insulin
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Anything healthy!
Hi,

I know I’ve asked before on here if anybody has trigger finger, but as the one I have on my right hand is very painful I contacted my dr via the patches system asking for some painkillers for it. I now have an appointment with a physio in a few weeks. Had anyone else been referred to physio and did it help?
 
Hi @Sarah69 .
Not for trigger finger, but for damage to bones in hands. One due to arthritic base of thumb, the other was follwing a fall when I broke fingers and scaphoid bone.
Physiotherapists tend to specialise now. E.g. Lower limb, spine, etc.i was very fortunate to be referred to an excellent hand therapy specialist. Good advice on exercises, but I needed to do the work. Also provided correct splints and explained how to use them. Also, advice on different aids and equipment I could use to help manage tasks. A recent fall and more damage means I need their help again, but I have been using the exercises and other info that was useful in the past.

Sorry my conditions were not the same as your trigger finger, but I would definitely recommend you ask for hand specialist physio and or Occupational therapist. Mine helped restore full movements in hands.
I hope someone who has had trigger finger will see your post and give more specific advise from their own experience.
 
I have trigger finger, right ring finger, I had a steroid into the shaft, mind numbingly painful, but sorted it about 6 yrs ago. Still OK. Now got it in my left ring finger, I'm leaving that as it is for now. The first time I was referred to a physio who made a splint, never wore it because sleeping in it was a definite no, and trying to straighten a bent finger is nigh on impossible.
Strangely enough eating zero or as close to zero carbs/sugar makes the pain less painful. Good luck on your journey.
 
Many years ago I had a few triggers, one thumb and a couple of fingers pn each hand, and my late father used to suffer from trgger thumbs.

I never had any physio treatment and for two my GP gave me corticosteroid injections in the tendon at the base of my thumb and that fixed them. I can't remember as it's so long ago but but I may have had braces to help but I don't remember them being particularly painful, but the actual jabs raised my glucose levels for several days.

The last one was on my right hand (@dawnmc -also my ring finger) )about 10 years ago , and this ended up completely locked in a bent position for ages and was very painful - fortunately I'm left handed! My GP finally got me an appointment with a private!! hospital for a minor operation to unjam it. I had an HcA1c to check for acceptable glucose levels before they'd book me in for this as it was done in an operating theatre under local anaesthetic. It was fixed via a tiny slit at the base of my hand in line with the locked finger but I don't know what was actually done to release it. But if I remember correctly I needed painkillers for some time afterwards to recover from the pain though the actual slit didn't need any stitches and healed up more less invisible.

I've had no further problems since then.
 
I worked 9 years as physio, and the right one - if there are hand specialists available, that's ideal - can certainly help. Nowadays (over 20 years later) NHS physios seem to be big on exercises and not much else - the deep massage and passive exercising that we did so much seems not to happen any more. You may get better luck with a private physio, but it all depends on the training they've had. I'd also suggest acupuncture.
 
Hi @Sarah69 . Yes, I have osteo arthritis (OA) in my fingers, and trigger fingers on both hands. I haven't had physio, but the OA specialist/surgeon I saw was VERY helpful, and gave me great advice and I felt well looked after for the back-up support (I could go in at any time, he said, and get a steroid injection if the pain was too much).

Yes, they're into exercising the joint big time these days. I was very happy to find out that keying (as in fast touch keying), as I am now, is the best exercise possible for OA in fingers. . As I am a writer and working tediously on a big project. It was great to find out keying, and using my hands and fingers, was the best thing I could be doing to keep my fingers limber and working. This has certainly been the case in the last few years I have been seeing touch-keying as limbering exercise anti the joints stiffening up.

When I wake up with the 'trigger finger' I just use the other hand's fingers to straighten it up, and this doesn't freak me out like it used, since seeing the specialist, and him reassuring me that I wasn't wrecking my fingers by doing that. The sound affects are pretty dire! (My cat is fascinated!)
 
Hi, thanks for your reply. Can you tell me what keying is please? I’ve looked it up but I can’t find anything. I couldn’t bend my finger back for an hour yesterday and when I finally did it was so painful I could have cried!
 
Hi again @Sarah69. Keying - is typing on a keyboard! I can touch-type, so all fingers (and thumbs) are being utilised as any touch typist knows (and loves!) I'm in my 60s, so I learnt to type on typewriters, but being able to touch type was one of the best things I ever learnt to do.

A good phsyiotherapist will give you great exercises that suit your disability and lifestyle, in my experience. I hope you get a good one.

All my aunts, on both sides of my family, had bad arthritis in their hands and fingers, my mother too, so I was kinda prepared for it, but still, it freaked me out, as I am a writer (amongst other things).

About the trigger finger - my experience is I pull it out straight, as soon as I wake with it. Short and sharp! And I hear you on the pain. But once unbent, there is no pain, except maybe a wee lingering one? for me. But of course - you should get professional advice on that one...
 
I had trigger, right ring. I attempted to splint myself, including ring and little finger. Little finger not been right since.

Saw a sports physio in Spain (has excellent reputation). He used both electro massage and shock therapy. Much improved and trigger no more But hand is still painful to grip strongly. Things like screwdriver…. Have so far avoided injection- don’t trust needles will be seeing my physio again when back in Spain.
 
I had to have an operation and stitches on three fingers on my right hand. Physio didn’t cure the problem !
 
I had trigger finger on my right hand ring finger. My doctor sent me local hand clinic at general hospital where I received a steroid injection which worked within a few days. Perfeet ever since - 18 years later. Not sure about physiotherapy.
 
I've had a trigger finger for years, physio and brace, was no help. Steroid injection x3 ( 2 ultra sound guided) only helped for a few weeks at a time.
My sister also had a trigger finger had steroid injection and has had no problems since.
 
I’ve just had 2 fingers on 1 hand & 1 finger & thumb on the other hand operated on for trigger finger. Had 2 more done in my forties. They worked well, presumably because I was younger. 2 of the last 4 worked well but 2 fingers still triggering. Physio thinks they may get better if I regularly massage them. Steroid injections don’t always work well for diabetics & the same with operations but worth giving a go if your fingers stick or hurt. The operation is quick & easy,(about 1/2 hour for 2 fingers), the worst bit being the local anaesthetic injected into hand. I’m not sure that exercises alone will help.
 
I had it in both hands in the early '90's. It affected my middle fingers making them stick when I clenched my fists. Initially the doctors gave me cortisone injections into the finger which worked for about 6 months. The condition then returned. Eventually the surgeon performed an operation (general anaesthetic) and removed the thickened part of the tendons. I was on hospital two nights as I'm Type 1. It proved very successful although I did have 6 stitches in the palms of my hands which has left scarring. I've not suffered with trigger finger since. The op was done in 2027.
 
Hi there,
I’m T1 48 years post diagnosis. I had a trigger finger release Op at the start of 2023 and it’s the best thing I could have had done. I had the steroid injection initially as physio was expected to not solve the problem. The injection was really painful and turned out to be a temp fix - it wore off after about 4 months. The Op was under local anaesthetic and, after a couple of months of rehab exercises, the finger worked perfectly.
Hope this helps
Good luck with your treatment.
BR Chris
 
Hi I had trigger finger some years ago now. Visited my GP he diagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome a very minor op they only need to freeze the affected hand slight incision a couple of stitches job successfully done. Check out carpal tunnel syndrome first. Hope you get sorted as I know how painful this condition is.
 
I’ve had 4 injections in my left hand and 6 in the right over the last couple of years, never had physio recommended at all. I have trouble with both thumbs, both ring fingers and middle finger on the right. All lock and thumbs can be extremely painful. The only treatment I have been offered is the injections.
 
I have had trigger finger in both ring fingers on two hands…would wake up with them bent and had to manipulate them upright. So perhaps early stages, but Father had Dupuytrens ‘ contracture. However I ‘cured’ mine with improving my thyroid hormones, notably FT3 as long term hypothyroid/Hashimoto sufferer. There is growing evidence that tendons/ cartilage soft tissue have T3 receptors that need adequate hormone to maintain this tissue….obviously not applicable to all, but worth looking into.
 
 
Hi, I had trigger fingers on both hands and nothing worked to release them. I was referred to a hand surgeon who operated to release them, quite a bit of physio afterwards. But for the past 20 years (apart from arthritis in both hands) I haven’t been troubled with trigger fingers again, he did a great job. He also told me that it is a quite common complaint amongst diabetics! I wore splints as well for a while to stop the curling out of shape but once everything had healed didn’t need them anymore. There is always help out there in some form or another so don’t suffer in silence, it can get better. Good Luck.
 
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