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Looking for a story idea, or in need of an expert to comment or interview? For questions, interview requests and other media-related needs, please contact Stephanie Rauschenbach at (614) 701-1714. We will do our best to accommodate your deadlines.
Dr. James Popp discusses "mommy thumb" in Columbus Dispatch
"Mommy thumb" has some handcuffed
By: Misti Crane, Columbus Dispatch
Debbie Welsh kept trying to explain away the pain in her right hand, thinking it must be lingering from the time she fell while walking her dog.
But the pain and "popping" in her thumb, especially while caring for her grandson and helping her ailing mother-in-law get around, kept getting worse. So the Powell resident went to Dr. James Popp, a hand surgeon, who told her she had DeQuervain's tendonitis. The problem most likely arose from repeatedly picking up her grandson, Noah, under his arms, Popp said.
"I was floored when he told me about this," said Welsh, 55. She ended up having surgery in May to fix the problem after other treatments didn't work.
When people repeatedly use their hands like hooks under a child's armpits, the thumb moves back toward the wrist. The stress can irritate and inflame tendons at the base of the thumb.
Nobody officially tracks the incidence of "mommy thumb," but some speculate that a combination of factors might be giving rise to more cases of painful tendonitis in the hand.
Among the theories: Children are heavier, there are moreolder moms, and many grandparents are caring for young children.
"It's a weird action. This is something we don't do every day, but new moms might do it 30 or 40 times a day," said Popp, who works at The Cardinal Orthopaedic Institute.
The tendons get inflamed and rub against a tunnel that they normally slide through easily. Dr. Tracy Bigelow, a hand surgeon with OrthoNeuro, said she is not sure whether the incidence is rising but suspects that more people are seeking help and getting a proper diagnosis.
"It is very common. I see that several times in a clinic day," Bigelow said.
Once the problem becomes severe, the pain can be "knifelike," she said. About 10 percent of patients need surgery; most cases are resolved with rest (in a splint), anti-inflammatory drugs and sometimes corticosteroid shots, Bigelow said.
Bigelow said new moms should be especially careful because hormonal changes that occur during pregnancy can make them more vulnerable.
Tracy Augustine, a hand therapist at OhioHealth Neighborhood Care in Dublin, said she also sees the condition in those who do a lot of back-and-forth actions while keyboarding and in construction workers who do a lot of hammering.
People trying to rest their thumbs and wrists in splints have to be patient, Augustine said. "It can be weeks. This is something that doesn't develop overnight, and it doesn't go away overnight, either."
Therapy can help, too, she said.
The key to avoiding the problem - or a recurrence once it has been treated - is to pick up children in a different way, experts say.
"I had to rethink how I had to lift my grandson," said Welsh, who now cares part time for both Noah, who is almost 2, and his sister, Hannah, who is 4 months old.
Now, she lifts them with more of a scooping motion, holding her hand in a fist rather than spreading her fingers away from her thumb, she said.
"I'm very careful now with my wrist."
Review the full article at Dispatch.com
Learn more about Dr. James Popp, and our other orthopedic physicians specializing in hand and upper extremity at The Cardinal Orthopaedic Institute.
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