Don't Shoot!

I have concluded that coming up with post titles is not my specialty.  Today I was with Dr. Forrest an orthopedic surgeon.  I learned about trigger fingers, hence the title.  There were two patients today that came in with trigger fingers although both originally believed it to be caused by arthritis.  Luckily a trigger finger is easily treatable. From my understanding, in your finger there is a tendon that goes from the final phalanges to a bone in the palm of your hand (not sure which on and it also probably depends on the finger with the problem).  This tendon is held to the bone with other tendons to keep it from bow-stringing out.  A trigger finger is when the area where the tendon and the overlying tendon gets inflamed.  This causes the tendon to snag and the finger to get stuck in a curled up position.  The problem can be addressed with a small surgery where you go in and cut the tendon that is holding part of the tendon to the bone.  The other remaining tendons just pick up the work.  The other is to inject cortisone into the joint to hopefully relieve some of the irritation.