You reach for your phone, grip a coffee cup, or scoop up your toddler, and a sharp pain flares at the base of your thumb where it meets your wrist. Maybe it aches after a long day of texting, or twinges every time you turn a doorknob or open a jar. If that sounds familiar, you may be dealing with a common and very treatable condition called De Quervain’s tenosynovitis, often nicknamed texting thumb or mommy thumb.
It is an increasingly common complaint in a world full of smartphones and one-handed scrolling. At Premier Chiropractic Center in Bessemer, Dr. Roshun Glover helps patients understand what is causing that thumb and wrist pain and take a whole-body approach to finding relief.
What Is De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis?
De Quervain’s tenosynovitis affects two tendons on the thumb side of your wrist. These tendons run from your forearm to your thumb and help you move and stretch it. They pass through a snug tunnel of tissue near the wrist, and when they become irritated and swollen, that tunnel becomes a tight, painful squeeze.
The result is pain and tenderness right at the thumb side of the wrist, often with some swelling. It tends to be worse whenever you use your thumb forcefully or turn your wrist, which is exactly the movement involved in gripping, pinching, lifting, and, yes, texting.
How It Is Different From Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
De Quervain’s is easy to confuse with carpal tunnel syndrome, but they are two different problems, and telling them apart matters for getting the right care. Carpal tunnel syndrome involves compression of the median nerve, and its trademark symptoms are numbness, tingling, and a pins-and-needles feeling in the thumb, index, middle, and part of the ring finger, often worse at night.
De Quervain’s, by contrast, is a tendon problem, not a nerve problem. It causes pain and tenderness centered at the thumb-side of the wrist, especially with gripping and pinching, rather than numbness or tingling in the fingers. If you are not sure which one you are dealing with, a proper evaluation can sort it out. We cover carpal tunnel in a separate article if that picture sounds more like yours.
Common Causes and Who Tends to Get It
De Quervain’s usually develops from repetitive thumb and wrist motions that irritate those tendons over time. Frequent smartphone use is a modern culprit, since scrolling and typing with your thumbs repeats the same motion thousands of times a day. It is far from the only one, though.
New parents are especially prone to it, so much so that it earned the nickname mommy thumb. Repeatedly lifting a baby under the arms, with the thumbs doing much of the work, puts steady strain on those exact tendons. Hobbies and jobs that involve a lot of gripping, pinching, or repetitive hand work, from gardening and crafting to gaming and racquet sports, can contribute as well. It also shows up more often during and after pregnancy, when hormonal changes and fluid retention play a role.
Symptoms to Watch For
De Quervain’s tends to come on gradually and build over time. Common signs include:
- Pain and tenderness at the thumb side of the wrist.
- Swelling near the base of the thumb.
- Pain that flares with grasping, pinching, lifting, or twisting the wrist.
- A catching or sticking feeling when you move your thumb.
- Discomfort that spreads up the forearm or down into the thumb.
A simple at-home clue: if you tuck your thumb into your palm, make a loose fist around it, and gently bend your wrist toward your little finger, a sharp pain along the thumb side of the wrist is a classic sign. If that reproduces your pain, it is worth having it looked at.
How Chiropractic Care Can Help
Chiropractic care is not only about the spine. Chiropractors are trained to evaluate and care for the joints of the extremities too, including the wrist and thumb. Just as importantly, the wrist does not work in isolation. Tension and restrictions in the forearm, elbow, shoulder, and even the neck can all influence how your hand and wrist function, which is why a whole-arm, whole-body view often reveals more than focusing on the thumb alone.
At Premier Chiropractic Center, Dr. Glover starts with a thorough evaluation and uses gentle techniques tailored to you, including the Activator Method, which is well suited to precise, low-force work on smaller joints. Care may include gentle adjustments to restore proper motion, along with guidance on activity changes, ergonomics, and simple strategies to give those irritated tendons a chance to calm down. The aim is to address both the symptoms and the contributing patterns that led to them.
Simple Steps to Ease the Strain
Alongside professional care, a few everyday adjustments can make a real difference:
- Give the area rest by cutting back on the repetitive motions that aggravate it.
- Text differently, using a finger instead of your thumb or switching hands to share the load.
- Take frequent breaks during long stretches of phone, keyboard, or handwork.
- When lifting a baby, scoop from underneath with your forearms rather than gripping with your thumbs.
- Use ice on a fresh flare-up, and ask about a thumb-and-wrist brace to rest the tendons.
If your pain is severe, keeps returning, or is not improving with rest and these changes, it is a good idea to have it professionally evaluated so you can get ahead of it rather than pushing through.
Find Relief in Bessemer
Thumb and wrist pain has a way of touching nearly everything you do with your hands, from work to parenting to simply enjoying your phone without wincing. The good news is that De Quervain’s usually responds well to conservative care, especially when you address it early.
If texting thumb or mommy thumb is slowing you down, Dr. Roshun Glover and the team at Premier Chiropractic Center in Bessemer are here to help. Book your appointment today, and take the first step toward comfortable, pain-free hands.
Recent Comments