Tendonitis?

[bixaorellana]

This is not a terrible problem, but it's giving me fits.

Over a month ago I helped with food prep for a wedding. We chopped vegetables for hours. The next morning the knuckle of my index finger where it meets the hand was swollen and tender.

Someone told me this was a repetitive stress thing, saying it was tendonitis. I know it will go away eventually, but not having full use of my right hand is annoying.

I'm wearing a copper ring on the middle finger of that hand due to a random arthritis (?) incident there a while back, plus a copper bracelet to help with the painful index knuckle.

Anybody have any home remedies?

[palesa]

Have you tried rubbing it with Deep Heat, Winter Green or one of those? I would tub it at bedtime though.

That wedding was a while ago, has it been getting better at all?

[bixaorellana]

That's a thought, Palesa -- thanks. I've used arnica at bedtime, but notice that heat really helps. Duh -- didn't make the leap to the Deep Heat product. Yeah -- the chopping that provoked the problem was well over a month ago, and the hand is just as sore now.

[palesa]

You may need to consider seeing a medical practitioner soon, Bix.

[spindrift]

Bix - I will ask my 95year old friend who is a retired orthopaedic surgeon. He will know. I won't see him again until next Sunday.

[bixaorellana]

Bix would rather suffer than see a doctor.

[spindrift]

I am the same. I have scant respect for the medical profession.

[Deleted]

Bix, I think you need to just give it some rest. Between this project and that,your rabid gardening,cooking and goodness knows what all else I do believe it needs some R&R. Try using your left hand more. If it was tendonitis it would hurt all the time.

[bixaorellana]

Uh, Casimira ~ it hurts all the time.

Really, I have not done anything the least bit strenuous since it started. Just to be whiny for a moment, it hurts when I brush my teeth, sweep, or when I try to write. I never realized how much that part of the hand serves as a fulcrum.

[Deleted]

Apply ice in between activities,maybe try wrapping it?

[palesa]

R&R sounds good, heat and cold, do anti-inflammatories work with tendonitis? Try bandaging it up quite firmly to restrict movement.

Then again, what do I know, I am not a medical personage.

[bixaorellana]

Sometimes common sense is better than "medical knowledge". I had to talk my sister -- a nurse & devotee of pedicures -- through cutting her own toenail which was getting ingrown.

[happytraveller]

If it is a tendonitis, it might take quite a long time before it's healed up. I would keep using ARNICA
But getting it checked out from a doc would probably be wise...

[bixaorellana]

I'm frustrated about the arnica. I have a tiny bit left a friend brought me from Morocco. It really works, but it's in an oil base. The cream or gel kinds seem to last longer. It used to be really easy to find, but the last several drugstores I tried didn't have it.

[spindrift]

What follows is the opinion of my 95year old friend and retired orthopaedic surgeon. I am presently with him for the afternoon, having made him a supply of egg sandwiches!

He says: " Teno sinovitis means inflammation of the lining of a tendon sheath i.e. the membrane which surrounds the tendon to allow free gliding. The sheath can become swollen if irritated by over-activity. It will then be swollen and tender. The remedy is to prevent over-use and to rest the digit by whatever means is available. That's it in a nutshell. Recovery should be expected in 6/10 weeks. If the teno sinovitis is very severe, rest by means of a splint should be considered. A plaster splint would be an alternative."

*bix turns pale at the thought of a splint*

[palesa]

Bix, update please?

[bazfaz]

I had tendonitis of my right shoulder which I thought might be caused by all the computer work I was doing (controlling the mouse with my right hand); more probably it was through using a hand saw on logs. I had massage and used a gel. But relly, the doc said, the cure was to rest the affected tendon.