Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) is a neurological condition usually resulting from abnormal healing of an injury to the extremities. Pain becomes out of proportion to the severity of the initiating factor that can be anything from surgery to prolonged immobility. A subtype (Type I) of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), RSD is characterized by burning […]
Dupuytren’s Contracture is a condition in which the hand curls up into a claw. The beginning stages can be painful. Often genetically inherited, steroid or enzyme injections can help and the contracture can be released surgically if it gets to a critical point. The effects can be mitigated with specific deep tissue work like Neuromuscular […]
When the thumb or finger locks up it is called a Trigger Thumb or Trigger Finger. They are slightly different in the mechanism that may be causing each. The cramping can be painful. For a trigger thumb, the tendon of the long flexor of the thumb seems to actually get caught between tight muscles, preventing […]
A new “diagnosis,” the pain caused by specific repetitive stress to the arm and hand muscles that bend the thumb is of increasing importance due to our hand-held texting devices like the Blackberry. To press the keys with the device in the palm of the hand requires flexing the tip of the thumb inward and […]
This is a series on arm and hand pain. If you missed the beginning, go back to the “Checklist of Causes.” The previous post reviews general issues. This entry is a list of 8 factors that can cause or perpetuate pain. Treating RSI pain is a specialty at The Abbott Center for Neuromuscular Therapy near […]
This is a series on arm and hand pain. If you missed the beginning, go back to the “Checklist of Causes.” DeQuervain’s Syndrome (stenosing tenosynovitis) can produce a very painful condition at the wrist at the base of the thumb. (Stenosis refers to the narrowing of a canal or duct, tenosynovitis to inflammation of the […]
This is a series on arm and hand pain. If you missed the beginning, go back to the “Checklist of Causes.” Golf elbow, medically known as medial epicondylitis, is pain at the inner elbow, usually from inflammation of the tendons that attach to it. The muscles that hurt are mostly local: 1) the tendons of […]
This is a series on arm and hand pain. If you missed the beginning, go back to the “Checklist of Causes.” In my Neuromuscular Therapy center near Boston, I treat arm and hand pain caused by sports injuries. Tennis elbow, medically known as lateral epicondylitis is characterized by pain at the outer elbow and/or inflammation […]
Cubital tunnel symptoms include inner elbow pain, and pain, tingling, numbness, burning, and weakness down the ulnar forearm and hand to the pinkie and ring fingers. The cubital tunnel is at the inner elbow (medial epicondyle) formed by the dog bone knob of the upper arm bone (humerus). The ulnar nerve goes around it like […]
Of all the arm and hand pain conditions and syndromes that can be treated, carpal tunnel syndrome is the one that is most often misdiagnosed and the one for which unnecessary surgeries are most often performed. See other conditions and causes in the post on Arm and hand pain: A Checklist of Causes. I was […]