New Parent Injuries: Dequervain's Tendinosis

New Parent Injuries: Dequervain's Tendinosis

My son is now 9 months old and standing in his crib. He also likes to stand in his playpen, next to the couch, by the kitchen table, and any other surface that hold his weight (did I mention he was a chunker?). With all this standing, he requires me to pick him up from his standing position which inevitably places my wrist twisted in some start awkward position. This constant lifting can cause something called Dequervain's Tendinosis

Dequervain’s Tendinosis is a chronic irritation to the thumb tendons of the hand and wrist. This is caused by repetitively lifting babies and other objects with the thumb placed in the “thumbs up position” such as the picture below.

http://grhsonline.org/lifting-your-child-safely/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomical_snuff_box#mediaviewer/File:Gray424.png

Cooking and cleaning repetitively also stresses the thumb tendons and will increase the amount of pain that you feel with other activities such as lifting your child. Obviously these activities are unavoidable as a new parent, thus it is necessary to modify these activities in the following ways: 
1. Attempt to not lift your child with your “thumbs up”.

2. Avoid lifting pots and pans with your hands in the “thumbs up” position.

3. Use baby carriers as much as possible

4. Possibly use hard wrist/thumb brace to take load of tendons. (see picture below). Although bulky, these brace remove much of the tension and pressure off those thumb tendons that are already irritated.

http://www.betterbraces.com/procare-comfortform-wrist-wabducted-thumb

5. Try PT and possible trigger point dry needling! (More info in coming blogs) TDN has been very effective in treating this condition for many of our patients. Call us for more info!