Although thumb injuries don’t sound that severe, they might cause a lot of pain and often make it impossible to fully use your hand. There are many causes for thumb injuries and most of them are temporary. A Sprained thumb or torn bands are the most common types of injuries and they can be awfully painful. Injuries at the thumb are frequently seen in athletes while doing exercises or playing sports. A sprained thumb is often caused by falling on your thumb. However, it is also caused when hitting someone in the wrong way (accidentally or on purpose) or at the wrong angle or just using too much force. In some cases, the thumb is not sprained but instead is broken. In this case, a splint is necessary for treatment to let it heal without the chance of further injury. A splint can also be used for a sprained thumb injury, but this is only done in severe cases. You don’t want to lessen its activity because then the thumb will become very stiff.
A ligament that is partially torn, is called a thumb sprain and this is the most common type of injury seen by thumbs. The main symptoms are a lot of pain and swelling. It will often make it unable for someone to grasp items. The main cause of torn ligaments is trauma, by falling on the thumb. Your doctor will use X-rays as the primary diagnosis test, to see if it is broken or just bruised/sprained. Treatment for thumb injuries consists of taking rest and not doing any strange things that might cause further injury. A splint might help giving it rest and also helps the prevention of further injury. However, most doctors will advise not to wear a splint because then the joint of the thumb will get very stiff. Thumb exercises are advised, stretch the thumb but stop when it start to hurt.
When your thumb is broken, the primary treatment would also be a splint. In rare cases, the thumb needs to be realigned by surgery. Broken thumbs are frequently seen in fights, when your finger was stuck between a door, or when you hit it with a hammer or other tools.
You can not really prevent thumb injuries, the only thing to do is to avoid hitting other people and try to be careful when you are working with tools.
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