What is a jammed thumb?

When you’re an occupant of planet Earth, few things are more annoying than smackin’ your funny little thumb against something hard. You know what we mean: the kind of sudden, sharp pain that sends a shiver up your entire being and threatens to black everything out?

This vexing ache comes when you jam your thumb – but what does it mean to “jam” a digit? How can prevent doing it in the first place, and how should you deal with it if/when you inevitably do so? Read on for some answers.

Understanding Jamming

Before any prevention or healing occurs, let’s clarify precisely what happens when someone experiences a “jammed” digit as opposed to simply hitting their hand.

Sometimes, people use term interchangeably – they’ve bashed their fingers before but haven’t necessarily suffered from jams; others may say that any excruciating finger injury qualifies as such. When medical pros bring it into play though,a jammed-digit is defined by soft-tissue wear-and-tear at the joint between your finger’s basis and its proximal phalanx (bone closest entering-hand).

Let us elaborate on this.

The Bones Involved

The human hand has three main categories of bones:
– Carpals: That consists of wrist bones held together b y ligaments.
– Metacarpals: Extending from wrist region towards knuckles forming palm bone .
– Phalanges:Fingers are club-like which ends with 2 small bones called distal & middle phalanges.

Your fingers stay connected via joints produced by combinations of these products. Now within this structure made by nature if there is undue fatigue then our muscles won’t support properly thus creating pressure resulting in further harming other parts.So one must be careful while playing sports activities,twisting his/her thumbs frequently especially during opening/closing doors etc.

Most Commonly Affected Digits

Jammed thumbs are by far the most common type of injury, but it’s possible to jam other fingers. In these cases, the proximal joint takes a hit instead i.e.,between our hand and long bones.

How does Jamming Occur?

Stochastic is an excellent word for describing when someone suffers from thumb-jammed (meaning there’s no apparent reason why it happens) because sometimes as simple things cause this discomfort such as:
– Popping open car door
– Catching ball with finger tip while playing basket-ball.
– Smashing a volleyball overhand.

The swelling than occurs due to traumatic effect makes it difficult & hampers movement.Also sometimes numbness might occur around digit which is nothing less than frustration on already existing pain.

Symptoms

There are several essential symptoms that indicate whether you have experienced injured/twisted your thumb or any other finger. Pain and swelling usually set in quickly following impact, which will be noticeable within mere seconds touch any object.Let us list down some potential indicators of gummed digits

  • Swelling occurring either top side or backside of affected area ,Reddening present at impacted area with increased warmth if compared to rest body region.

Excruciating hurt through entire digit itself will persist longer and may appear turning deep pinkish after immediate agony subsides somewhat.Even putting stress accidentally onto tenderize zone means more wincing until injury would start feeling better gradually

Skin Change involved

Additionally, during inspection throbbing purple blood vessels/vessel raised veil-like right underneath top epidermal skin-layered segment occupying impressive ~ 50% marked contrast opposed normal areas – another demonstrated sign according enough clinical analysis medics utilize so diagnosis can become further accurate even under limited resources & time constraints! Same thing going ahead till 2 days post jamming .

Treating A Jammed Thumb

Treating any injured area of your body is a priority, especially if it’s causing you constant pain. Depending on how seriously you’ve hurt yourself, assuming immediate treatment of jammed thumb/finger implies following preventative measure after taking a break-stop playing whatever activity cause such injury:

  1. Resting the Injured Area (24hours)
  2. Cold Pack use — Ice application (20mins up to 3times)
  3. Compression for swollen areas with popularly available & readily used elastic band wrapping around joint.
    4 . Arm Elevation; helps to purge debris away from swollen area by increasing venous return.

After waiting out above mentioned time frames , one can start exercising again seeing reduce inflammation and overall improvement (which usually happens between 7-14 days).

When To See A Doctor

Trying DIY techniques initially at home work most of the time but sometimes certain excessive swelling or utter immobility in affected digit will mean seeing an expert medical practitioner & consulting over treatment options.This becomes more pressing issue when:
You feel sharp-pain constantly throughout day no matter what motion carried-out for complete two-three days since accident occurred
Numbness sensation develops anywhere within hand as effect might go further inside skeletal structure leading towards temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ)
Having trouble moving finger due rigidity i.e., grip opening/closing is deteriorated.

Preventative Measures

Once improperly treated fingers are healed/considered good enough,it does not make sense repeating that precipitous action because let’s be honest once become an athlete in play ground either individually or team setting ,it becomes absolutely inaccurate stating that its going to happen zero times afterwards.Still some suggestions include :

Pregame Stretching

Strengthen nearby muscles like wrists,fingers prior starting sports-activity which we do while preparing/checking equipments to see everything same.There are certain exercises like:
– Finger extensions & flexion ,
– Hand rotation while keep palm/arms stationary

By following the above methods, blood flow increases in such part due to palpation by neighboring muscles leading towards healthy tendons,ectonorm pump… oh wait we are not doctors so no use of hard vocabulary too much.

Grab hold Properly
Seems pretty basic right?

Yeah judging how frequently this kind of injury occurs demand priority.This message should be reinforced always i.e., using proper basketball/jumping ball technique ,good-looking volleyball spike that lands securely at crowned place etc. Always put stress on nearby muscles instead of actual ligaments/bones

Remember everything is about “timing” after all in these sporting events!

Conclusion

As seen by reading above paragraphs,satisfactory amount knowledge received concerning occurrence/remedy/prevention regarding jammed thumbs/fingers.Next time before proceeding for a play game with friends,you might want to stretch out those fingers/thumbs beforehand otherwise situation could become undeniably arduous during fun activity.The pain which comes along undermines whole enjoyment process as one might have expected.At anytime,no matter what you’re attempting to acheive,injury hurts and/or hampers your overall progress – and thumb jams are certainly no exception.Let’s just hope there less painful ways remembers/scars itself upon our memories when it happens inevitably already 16th~17th century was enough advancement right?

Random Posts