Trigger Finger: What you need to know before leaving it untreated

If your trigger finger does not hurt, you may be thinking of leaving it alone for a while and seeing what happens.

By the way, will it get better if you leave it alone? Is there any risk of lasting problems?

In this article, you will learn these three things:

• It may heal on its own, but there are risks.
• There are conditions with symptoms similar to trigger finger.
• Some cases of trigger finger do not require injections or surgery.

It may heal on its own, but there are risks.

In some cases, it does go away if you leave it alone. When I had trigger finger myself, it improved after I left it alone. If it is simply tenosynovitis, stretching may help relieve it.

However, if you leave it bent for too long, it may become fixed in that position and you may no longer be able to straighten it. Not only fingers but joints in general tend to remember a position when their movement stays fixed for a long time.

If you develop trigger finger, do not decide for yourself. Get a proper diagnosis. It is true that going to a hospital may lead to surgery being recommended unnecessarily. However, there are also conditions that look like trigger finger but have completely different causes and may actually require surgery. Determining that is beyond self-judgment and may require a doctor using tools such as ultrasound.

Find a doctor you can trust, and consult with them until you are satisfied that it really is trigger finger.

There are conditions with symptoms similar to trigger finger.

What kinds of conditions look like trigger finger, yet have completely different causes and require surgery?

I will explain them one by one.

Boxer’s knuckle

This is said to occur when a boxer strikes an opponent’s jaw, causing damage to the extensor tendon of the finger and the joint capsule as they impact the jawbone. It can also occur in non-boxers when the hand hits something hard.
It is a condition in which the extensor tendon shifts out of its normal position when you try to make a fist. As this happens, pain, inflammation, and swelling gradually appear in the joint.
Not only is the sagittal band, which guides the tendon and keeps it from slipping out of place, torn, but the joint capsule beneath it is also torn, so the extensor tendon is completely displaced.

Extensor tendon dislocation

This is similar to boxer’s knuckle. As in boxer’s knuckle, the sagittal band that guides the tendon is damaged, but the joint capsule underneath remains intact.

When you make a fist, the sagittal band can no longer hold the tendon securely in place, and the extensor tendon slips out of position.

Trigger wrist (snapping phenomenon at the wrist)

When the wrist bends, the bundles of tendons responsible for bending and straightening become important. The tendon bundles that pass beneath the wrist ligament—the flexor digitorum superficialis and flexor digitorum profundus tendons—run through a tunnel together with nerves and blood vessels.
When inflammation makes the tendon thicker, the flexor tendon can no longer glide smoothly through that tunnel. As a result, a snapping phenomenon occurs during bending and straightening.
It may look like trigger finger, but in fact it is a condition in which swelling in the wrist is affecting the movement of the finger.

Some cases of trigger finger do not require injections or surgery.

If it is confirmed to be straightforward trigger finger, treatment with injections may be considered. However, if injections are given too many times, they can damage the tendon, so surgery may then be recommended.

However, there are also cases of trigger finger that do not require surgery. These are cases in which the cause lies in the muscles.

Many muscles are involved in finger movement. These include areas close to the hand, such as the arm, shoulder, and shoulder blade. Sometimes trigger finger occurs because those muscles are tense.

In some cases, the cause may even lie farther away, such as in the lower back or abdomen.

In our seitai treatments, there are cases in which trigger finger improves without us touching the hand at all.

Also, not only trigger finger but numbness and pain in the hand are often linked to problems hidden in the lower body. This has been true not only in Japan, but also among people in other countries with different environments and body types.

If your trigger finger is not getting better easily, it may help to change your perspective and look for a problem somewhere other than the finger itself.

Important things

• Even if you think it is trigger finger, do not make that judgment by yourself
• If your trigger finger does not improve, get a doctor’s diagnosis
• If surgery is recommended, keep in mind that the cause of trigger finger may not be in the finger itself.