Do you have pain at the base of your thumb? If you ask your doctor it, he or she will probably diagnosis it as “arthritis” or maybe even carpal tunnel syndrome.
But here’s something interesting. If any one of us has an x-ray, it would most likely show arthritic changes in the bones. (Arthritis is usually caused by muscles pulling on bones.) But we don’t all have pain! “Arthritis” is a diagnosis doctors often use when
they don’t know why else you might have pain but often it is NOT the cause of the pain.
However, muscles and trigger points will cause pain in the base of your thumb.
Muscles (and trigger points) are often overlooked as a cause of all types of pain. Trigger points are very irritable areas of soft tissue or muscle that “fire” or cause pain somewhere else. Trigger points tend to develop in muscles that aren’t happy.
I have had pain in the base of my own thumbs many times because of the type of work I do (neuromuscular massage therapist.) And, I’ve worked it out many times, too.
You can, too!
The muscles at fault are most often in the web of your thumb and on the thumb-side of your lower arm but sometimes they are also higher up on your arm toward your elbow on the thumb side. You may as well “treat” that fleshy area of muscle, too.
How do you treat these muscles?
If your lower arm is tender, use heat, ice or massage the tender areas. You can locate tender areas by pressing or pinching the muscles.
If the pain is at the base of your thumb, pinch the web between your thumb and first finger with the finger and thumb of your opposite hand. (So you are pinching the web from both sides.) There are muscles in the web.
When you find tender areas press on those places for about 12 seconds. Take a break any time your treating fingers get tired. You don’t want to wear them out.
You don’t have to do this all at one time, either. Work all around the base of your thumb and around to your index finger. Do the center of the web, too. Do this as often as you can.
Also, take care not to tilt the hand that hurts toward your baby finger. That strains the muscles on the thumb-side of your lower arm and wrist and can cause pain at the base of your thumb.
If you can’t avoid tilting or twisting your wrist when you work a wrist brace can help but don’t wear it too tightly. Or you may be able to figure out how to do the movement without tilting or twisting.
Sometimes your muscles just get “too tight” or aggravated and need some help to feel better and stop causing symptoms. Lots of times you can do it yourself!
If you can stop doing things that aggravate the muscles that cause pain in the base of your thumb, that would be a very good thing.
But if you can‘t stop doing things that make your muscles unhappy, then understanding how to take care of them will help you get rid of that annoying pain at the base of your thumb (and lots of other pain, too.)