Jammed Thumb

A jammed thumb is described as the injured tendon (the tissue which connects bone to muscle) or bone located in the tip of the thumb. It is also known as mallet or baseball finger, and a skier's thumb. A jammed thumb occurs when its tip gets jammed against something or gets hit by something straight on. Some of the signs of a jammed thumb are that the thumb goes red, swollen and is painful, particularly on moving.

Jammed Thumb Causes

A jammed thumb mostly occurs when the thumb gets bent in an abnormal or unnatural way. Many people develop a jammed thumb when they hit it against something which is hard and firm, the ground or floor, or a ball during some sort of a sporting event. This is why the condition of jammed thumb is fairly common in sports people. The tendon or ligament may get stretched or torn, or the bone gets broken. Sometimes, the ligament which commonly gets injured in case of thumb injury is the collateral ligament.

Jammed Thumb Treatment

When your thumb is injured, assess the movement in it to find the extent of injury caused. If your thumb is too painful to be moved, the bone might have broken. Otherwise, your thumb has developed sprain. Both the conditions needs medical intervention. However, the latter may be treated to some extent at home.

Take a cube of ice and wrap it with a clean cotton cloth. Rub this ice cube gently on the injured thumb. Alternatively, dip the cloth in an ice-cold water. Place this cold compress on the affected thumb. It will provide you comfort from pain and swelling. Keep applying the ice cube or the wet cloth for about 10-15 minutes until you feel the pain to subside. You may use a splint or bandage on the wounded thumb. Immobilization will prevent worsening of the symptoms. Take an over-the-counter pain killer to bring the pain down. Make sure that you are not allergic to any of the component of the pain killer.

If the above home remedies fail to subside the jammed thumb symptoms, visit a doctor as soon as possible. He will take an x-ray of your thumb to determine bone breakage. He will examine your thumb to find whether the tendon or ligament is injured or not. He may make use of a cast or a splint as part of the treatment. The purpose of using a splint or a cast is to hold the ligament in place. This is done to assist healing, particularly when the radial collateral ligaments are partially torn. When the ulnar collateral ligament is completely broken, the doctor will suck its end behind a tendon. Ligament tears commonly need surgical treatment and reconstruction.

In majority of the cases of jammed thumb without bone fracture or dislocation gets treated completely on their own over a period of time, which is generally small. In case of fracture or dislocation, it needs medical assistance and takes several months for healing. Physical therapy exercises may prove to be helpful. The doctor is most likely to refer you to a physical therapist, who will make you perform some thumb exercises under his supervision. Make sure that you attend the sessions regularly. The healing time differs from case to case. On an average, it is 1-2 months. Follow all the instructions and directions given by the doctor.