Trigger Finger

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW:

• Trigger finger is also called stenosing tenosynovitis. Trigger finger happens when the covering of the tendon in your finger gets thick. A tendon is tissue that attaches the muscle to the bone. As you bend and straighten your finger, the tendon slides back and forth through its covering. When the tendon's covering grows too thick, it becomes harder for the tendon to move. You may have trigger finger in one or more of your fingers, or your thumb.
  
  
• Playing instruments, such as the piano or guitar, or lifting objects using your fingers increases the risk of getting trigger finger. Your finger may be painful and swollen, and it may be hard to bend and straighten. Your finger may make a clicking or popping noise when you bend it. Trigger finger may go away without treatment. If you need treatment, you may need one or more steroid injections (shots), or a procedure called tendon release. With time or treatment, the symptoms of trigger finger, including pain and swelling, may decrease or go away.

CARE AGREEMENT:

You have the right to help plan your care. Learn about your health condition and how it may be treated. Discuss treatment options with your caregivers to decide what care you want to receive. You always have the right to refuse treatment.

RISKS:

• Splinting may not decrease or take away your signs and symptoms. Steroid injections or tendon release procedures may harm the tendon or a nerve in your finger. Anti-inflammatory and steroid medicine may take away symptoms for a time, but the signs and symptoms may come back. After tendon release surgery, your finger may be stiff, painful, or weak. Your finger may be bruised or painful, and you may get an infection. After tendon release surgery, the tendon may sag into your palm when you bend your finger. With percutaneous tendon release, the covering of the tendon may not be completely cut. Your signs and symptoms may not go away after surgery if this happens.
  
  
• If you need treatment but do not have it, your signs and symptoms, such as pain and swelling, may stay the same or get worse. Talk to your caregiver if you have questions or concerns about having or treating trigger finger.

WHILE YOU ARE HERE:

Informed consent:

A consent form is a legal document that explains the tests, treatments, or procedures that you may need. Informed consent means you understand what will be done and can make decisions about what you want. You give your permission when you sign the consent form. You can have someone sign this form for you if you are not able to sign it. You have the right to understand your medical care in words you know. Before you sign the consent form, understand the risks and benefits of what will be done. Make sure all your questions are answered.

Vital signs:

Caregivers will check your blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, and temperature. They will also ask about your pain. These vital signs give caregivers information about your current health.

Pain medicine:

Your caregiver may give you medicine to decrease your pain. This medicine may be given to you as a pill, an injection (shot), or topical (medicine put on the skin of your hand). Tell caregivers if the medicine does not work to take away your pain.

Treatment options:

You may need one or more of the following treatments:

• Physical therapy: Physical therapy may be done with other treatments for trigger finger. A caregiver will help you with exercises to help you bend and straighten your finger.
  
  
• Steroid injections: Steroid medicine may be given to decrease finger pain and swelling. An injection (shot) of medicine may be given into your finger. Your trigger finger symptoms may decrease or go away three to seven days after this treatment. If your symptoms do not decrease or go away, or they go away and then come back, you may need to get another injection.
  
  
• Surgical release: Your caregiver will cut open a small area, either on the upper part of your palm or on the lower part of your finger. He will find the tendon, and cut open a small piece of the tendon covering.
  
  
• Percutaneous release: Your caregiver will insert a needle into your hand until he reaches the tendon covering. The needle is used to cut the tendon.

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The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.

Learn more about Trigger Finger (Inpatient Care)