De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis treatment – should we look at the ligaments of the wrist and thumb?

Ross A. Hauser, MD, Danielle R. Steilen-Matias, MMS, PA-C

Thumb pain can be confusing in that there are many issues that can cause pain in the thumbs. This confusion is none more evident than in the many patients we see with a diagnosis of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. See if this sounds like a familiar story to you.

A patient (mainly women in her 30s or older) will come in with thumb pain. This thumb pain has been going on for a while. In many cases, the patient will say they are not sure how the pain started. They will often say, “nothing happened,” or “I am not aware of anything I did to cause this.” Some patients will report intense pain at the onset and thought that they had “done something.” But they could not think of what they had done as they did not have an acute injury.

Their thumb just started to hurt.

These people will often complain that using a computer mouse or their smartphones aggravates their pain. They will also tell us about pain while sleeping and waking up with a frozen in place thumb. They will also tell us of the recommendation for cortisone and following the injections they suffered from a rapidly accelerating pain and function problem.

They will also tell us about a history of treatments that go something like this:

When I first started having the pain, I took over-the-counter NSAIDs. I did this on my own. When this did not help I went to my doctor and she gave me a stronger prescription as I seem to be having some type of inflammation. When the swelling went down I started having improvement in function but the pain was still there. So I tried experimenting with exercises I found online. That did not help and I went to a physical therapist. Their recommendations and exercise recommendations did not help either. I went online and bought a few different types of wrist/thumb splints and braces. Nothing is helping and the pain is getting worse. I am taking NSAIDs to help reduce swelling and at least this allows me to function a little.

De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis treatment – should we look beyond tendon inflammation and at the ligaments of the wrist and thumb?

In other cases, a woman will clearly point to a diagnosis of “Mommy Wrist” or “Mommy Thumb.”

Often women will contact us with a diagnosis of “Mommy or Mommy’s Thumb.”

This is an overuse injury in new mothers who frequently pick up and hold their new babies. In fact, holding the baby can be challenging because of the pain now generating in the wrist and thumb. They will tell us this developed a few months after baby and that since the diagnosis that they have been to a chiropractor, seen an acupuncturist, had one or multiple cortisone injections, tried CBD and some have also been referred to surgery because these treatments are not helping.  Some also are breast feeding and this makes treatment options a little more worrisome. So they  do stretching exercises, use splits and avoid certain movements.They have bought splits and tapes and braces. How they have changed their daily chores to compensate for the swelling and pain in their wrist. Some will tell us how they started to do things with their less dominant hand and now the less dominant hand was hurting a little.

When we ask the patient, “do you have a job or hobby that requires a lot of use of your hands,” they will often reply yes and then we explain that we want to explore and get down to the wear and tear aspect of their thumb pain and the treatments they are exploring.

Almost all of these patients will tell us that they take a lot of anti-inflammatory medications, Ibuprofen, many will tell us that they have a prescription dose from their primary providers and specialists.  De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis they insist is a problem of inflammation caused by trapped and compressed tendons at the base of the thumb. Anti-inflammatory treatments are necessary to relieve the pressure.

Anti-inflammatory management they relay to us is their way of avoiding surgery. In this article, we will look at other ways including regenerating and repairing the damaged tendons causing the inflammation and addressing the joint instability in the thumb and wrist causing the inflammation as the root cause of the problem.

Danielle Matias, MMS, PA-C, describes her own challenges with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis following the birth of her son and how De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis is treated at Caring Medical.

Here is a video summary:

I see a lot of patients post-pregnancy who come in for many different types of problems with joint pain. This includes De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis or “Mommy Thumb.” During the course of pregnancy, the body secretes the hormone relaxin which prepares the pelvis for a vaginal birth. But Relaxin’s release is not limited to the pelvis, it circulates in the body and can cause problems with ligaments and tendons including the tendons of the thumb and wrist.

During my pregnancy, I suffered from De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. The pain comes from the tendon sheath, the covering of the tendon, as it becomes inflamed. It is very painful, it is hard to open a door, open a jar. I am a Prolotherapist I give a lot of injections, this puts a lot of stress on my thumb.

We have had a lot of good success in treating this problem. Here is my personal story.

Towards the end of my pregnancy, the thumb pain was severe and on both sides, I could not sleep at night. I received a hydrodissection of those tendons which is the injection of a 5% noninflammatory dextrose solution into the inflamed tendon sheath. The injection is given under ultrasound.

This treatment can work in different ways.

This treatment worked for me for a couple of days but not long-term. After the birth of my son, I needed more aggressive treatment. As a Prolotherapist, I use my thumbs all day in giving injections and I still have this Relaxin hormone circulating in my body causing problems including in my thumbs, and I am hypermobile, to begin with.

During my pregnancy, in addition to the tendon sheath inflammation, the ligaments of my thumb had really stretched out and were causing a lot of instability in my thumb which was putting more pressure on the tendons. This is why the hydrodissection likely did not work by itself, I had too much instability. I then had four Prolotherapy treatments into my thumb area. Prolotherapy is the injection of a more concentrated dextrose solution which sparks healing factors to strengthen and repair the ligament and tendon weakness and looseness. (This is explained further below). I repeated the hydrodissection and my pain and instability were relieved.

Idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome and de Quervain’s tenosynovitis is there a connection?

A December 2021 study in the journal Somatosensory and motor research (10) investigated the frequency of de Quervain’s tenosynovitis in patient with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome. They found patients with idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome have a prevalence higher than normal population to have de Quervain’s tenosynovitis. We suppose that considering de Quervain’s tenosynovitis in patients with the pre-diagnosis of idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome during clinical evaluation has a positive impact on clinical follow-up and treatment of these patients.

Cortisone injections can make the pain worse for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis patients

People do get pain relief from cortisone injections for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. Sometimes one injection can provide months of relief. It is very likely however that if you are reading this article, you are not a patient who had long-lasting relief and you are now at that fork in the road or more cortisone, a surgical release of trapped tendons, manage along with anti-inflammatories.

If you decide on more cortisone, you may get pain relief. Here are some opinions from other doctors in the form of their published research.

In January 2019, doctors writing in favor of surgery over steroid injection expressed concerns about cortisone. In the journal Musculoskeletal Surgery (1), doctors from the Medical College and Sassoon General Hospital in India wrote: “steroid injection has been described as the first line of management (of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis) over many decades, but it is associated with some significant complications like depigmentation of skin, atrophy of subcutaneous tissue, suppurative tenosynovitis, and even tendon rupture.”

In a March 2020 study in the medical journal Hand (2) doctors at Rutgers Medical School

Cortisone injections for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis cause bone death 

This picture illustrates the location of the scaphoid bone, one of the small carpal bones that sits below the thumb joint. The  scaphoid bone is one of the small carpal bones that sits below the thumb joint. Research has shown that repeated local glucocorticoid injections can damage even destroy this bone.

This picture illustrates the location of the scaphoid bone, one of the small carpal bones that sits below the thumb joint. Research has shown that repeated local glucocorticoid injections can damage or even destroy this bone.

The scaphoid bone is one of the small carpal bones that sits below the thumb joint. In September 2018, doctors wrote in the journal Medicine (3) of destruction after repeated local glucocorticoid injections.

The doctors of this study illustrated the threat of bone death by documenting the story of a patient who had been diagnosed with de Quervain’s disease and was treated by repeated local glucocorticoid injections. When the cortisone injections failed, the patient underwent surgery for de Quervain’s disease.

Five years after surgery for de Quervain’s disease, the patient went to the hospital with sudden onset of intolerable pain in her right wrist. The patient said there was no injury or trauma, the wrist just started hurting badly.

In spite of nonsurgical treatment with rest, immobilization, painkillers, and surgery, her wrist pain was not improved. After further repeated local steroid injections in her wrist, radiographs, and magnetic resonance imaging of her wrist showed the avascular necrosis (bone death) of the scaphoid. This patient declined any further surgery.

Cortisone injections for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis cause skin atrophy

In the British Medical Journal’s BMJ Case Reports, (4) doctors discuss the problems of skin atrophy from steroid injection for de Quervain’s disease. They illustrated the case of de Quervain’s disease in a 71-year-old patient who went to the doctors with an abnormal patch of skin on the right wrist. Eighteen months previously, she had undergone an intra-tendon sheath steroid injection (0.25 mL triamcinolone 40 mg/mL) at the site, for de Quervain’s tenosynovitis.

In the weeks following the injection, she noticed marked indentation of the skin surrounding the injection point, followed by tenderness and a predisposition to bruising. Examination revealed an atrophied patch of skin with skin discoloration. The doctors warned other doctors:

Many multiple cortisone injection patients get surgery anyway

In the American Journal of Hand Surgery (5), doctors at the University of Michigan examined cortisone injection benefits in patients with three different hand problems: Carpal tunnel syndrome,  trigger finger, or de Quervain tenosynovitis.

This study examined 18,335 patients with de Quervain tenosynovitis.

Cortisone is just as good as surgical release

A February 2022 paper in the journal Musculoskeletal surgery (9) presents an alternative view. Here doctors wrote: “Ultrasonography is currently used for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in de Quervain’s tenosynovitis. There is a dearth of information on how effective an ultrasound-guided (USG) steroid injection is when compared to surgical release of the first extensor compartment. ”

These doctors theorized that ultrasound-guided steroid injection is equally effective as surgery. In their stuyd of 62 patients, 32 receiving the cortizone injection and 30 receiveing the surgery the doctors noted: “We observed that ultrasound-guided guided steroid injections are comparable to surgical release in terms of pain relief, functional outcome, complications.”

Surgery and Non-Surgical Alternatives for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis patients

Many people are helped by surgery for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis patients. Not all. Surgery is the last option for the treatment of  De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. The simple goal of the surgery is to relieve the pressure on the tendons in the thumb area that make the wrist move back and forth and side to side by cutting through the tendon sheath behind the thumb.

We will often hear from someone that they surgery for De Quervain’s. They were medicated during recovery,  and now they are having the same pain I’m having same pain as before the surgery.

The wrist's tendon sheath is illustrated

In the illustration, the white band that lays horizontally across the wrist is the tendon sheath. Under the tendon sheath is a network of tunnels that tendons and muscles move through. These are called dorsal compartments. Your surgeon may explain to you that you have compression in the first dorsal compartments and that a vertical, top to bottom cut is needed to make more room for the tendons.

In the first dorsal compartment spaces are the abductor pollicis longus and the extensor pollicis brevis tendons. They convert muscle power into movement in the hand, wrist, and thumb. They are the tendons that are being compressed, irritated, inflamed, and causing problems. As anti-inflammatory and cortisone have not successfully stopped this inflammation causing compression. Tissue now needs to be cut away.

Above we referenced a January 2019 study, (1) in which doctors wrote in favor of surgery over steroid injection because of concerns about cortisone. Let’s hear now what they say about the surgery…

In this study, 46 cases of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis received surgery with longitudinal (top to bottom) incision. There were a total of 40 patients with 9 males and 31 females between the age group of 28 and 62 years.

In the 40 patients (6 had both hands done)

Standard patient satisfaction and pain scores were very positive for many of the patients. It was a good surgery.

The conclusion of this report: “Surgical release of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis remains the gold standard treatment, and longitudinal incision offers an advantage of easy identification of compartment, more complete releases of the tendon sheath and peritendinous adhesions and less risk of palmar subluxation (the tendons leave their channels) of tendons.

For many of the patients in this study, surgery was very successful. For others not so successful. In this study, 15% of the patients had to go back for a second surgery to fix the first one.

Concerns of nerve damage in De Quervain’s tenosynovitis surgery

In the illustration above you get a simple understanding that the tendon sheath is covered by arteries, veins, and nerve networks. As mentioned many people have very successful surgeries. Others get nerve damage.

Let’s look at February 2018 research in the World Journal of Orthopedics (6) from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This study focuses on the incision of the tendon sheath.

“(Surgery)  has its complications. Recurrent tenovaginosis is a complication that occurs and often requires a second operation. Also (iatrogenic) nerve damage is frequently seen, varying from neurapraxia (temporary loss of motor and functioning ability because the nerves are now compressed and blocked) to total transection of the nerve, which are reported in the literature.

The surgical treatment of Quervains disease is the treatment of choice after conservative measures have failed.

To operate safely in the area of the dorso-radial part of the distal radius and the first metacarpus immediately introduces the problem of crossing and intertwining superficial branches of the radial nerve and the lateral cutaneous nerves (branches of the musculocutaneous nerve).

Three types of incisions are used to operate in this region; the transverse (across), the longitudinal (top to bottom), and the “lazy S” type incision (as it sounds a lazy “S”)

Each of these has its advantages and disadvantages and no best practice (‘golden standard’) could be found in the literature.

Manual manipulation with carpometacarpal thrust

Focus on treating carpometacarpal joint was the subject of an April 2022 paper from the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions, School of Physical Therapy, at Regis University, published in the journal Physiotherapy theory and practice (11). The study author’s offered a comparison of treatments in the management of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis can include splinting, activity modification, medications, corticosteroid injections, physical therapist management, and surgery. They also noted that “there is limited evidence to support the combination of manual therapy and exercise interventions within an Orthopedic Manual Physical Therapy approach when managing patients with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis.”

To question this, they reported on three case studies. The patients presented were identified with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis. These patients underwent a multi-modal treatment regimen including carpometacarpal thrust and non-thrust manipulation, end range radiocarpal mobilization, mobilization with movement, strengthening exercises, and grip proprioception training.

They noted that each patient demonstrated improvements in all pain and functional outcome measures and required ten visits or less to reach a satisfactory outcome. Each patient was able to return to daily tasks without pain and all improvements were maintained at six month follow-up.  The inclusion of first carpometacarpal manipulation within this multi-modal approach may enhance conservative management of patients with De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis.

Regenerative medicine injections – Prolotherapy

This image demonstrates the Prolotherapy injection treatment to the thumb and the carpometacarpal joint. The goal of the treatment is to strenegthen and tighten the ligaments of the hand and bring the bones back towards a more natural alignment. This will reduce or alleviate pain and restore better function. 

This image demonstrates the Prolotherapy injection treatment to the thumb and the carpometacarpal joint. The goal of the treatment is to strengthen and tighten the ligaments of the hand and bring the bones back towards a more natural alignment. This will reduce or alleviate pain and restore better function. 

Many patients will report to us that they were told surgery would be a great option for them with a good chance of success. They often ask us, if surgery was so good, why do they make people go through conservative care first? Why the cortisone, the anti-inflammatories? Why not just go straight to surgery? We present two studies above about surgery from surgeons, we could produce dozens more in support of surgery and warning against complications of surgery. Surgery complications in De Quervain’s tenosynovitis can make the patient’s situation much worse. That is why doctors tend to try NOT to perform the surgery.

Doctors at the University of California, Riverside presented a case history in the Journal of Pain, (7), April 2015

This case is that of a 62-year-old female radial (thumb side) and dorsal (backside) aspect of the wrist. The pain was aggravated with the increased use of her hands and improved with ice and anti-inflammatories. Swelling on the backside of the wrist and thumb area confirmed a diagnosis of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis with Intersection Syndrome (The swelling that may extend into the forearm).

In this case history of De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis, the doctors did not mention tendons. They talked about an injection of dextrose Prolotherapy that strengthened the ligaments.

Prolotherapy to the IP joint of the thumb.

Prolotherapy to the IP joint of the thumb.

People should get a multi-injection treatment. But not cortisone

A July 2020 study in the journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (8) gave us this observation about the realities of splint and cortisone treatments. Here is what the researchers of this study said:

“A multimodal (combined) approach using splint therapy and corticosteroid injections appears to be more beneficial than either used in isolation. Although there exists some evidence showing that multipoint injection techniques and multiple injections before surgical referral may provide benefit over a single point injection technique and a single injection before surgery, corticosteroid use is not benign and should thus be performed with caution.”

This is where Prolotherapy injections can be beneficial. Prolotherapy is a simple sugar or dextrose injections. It can be given to many patients in larger and more frequent doses because of the low risk or side effects of treatment. Prolotherapy is an injection that can be given multiple times within one treatment and this treatment can be offered multiple times.

Ligaments? Tendons? Or both?

Weakened ligaments are a common cause of chronic wrist pain, chronic thumb pain, and chronic hand pain because weakened ligaments lead to excessive joint instability and hypermobility. What does all this mean?

A reason that the tendons are inflamed is that they are “being rubbed the wrong way.” By what? The tendon sheath and other structures in the wrist/thumb/hand complex. How is this friction occurring? Because the sea of ligaments that the wrist and thumb sit in is loose, allowing for the abnormal rubbing movement.

Ultrasound showing joint instability in a patient with osteoarthritic fingers and thumb

In this video, Ross Hauser, MD demonstrates an ultrasound examination showing joint instability in her thumb. (0:42) the ultrasound image and explanation by Dr. Hauser.

Demonstration of Prolotherapy treatment for the thumb

The treatments starts at 1:15 of the video: Ross Hauser, MD comments and narrates:

Fixing the abnormal rubbing of the tendons

In the treatments above, doctors sought to treat the problems of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis with anti-inflammatories that address the symptom, not the cause. With surgery, which addresses the symptom, not the cause. In Prolotherapy treatments, we address the problems of ligament damage to the thumb and wrist area. Treatment of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis is not a treatment in isolation. To effectively treat this problem you need to address the problems causing it, wrist and thumb instability.

Prolotherapy is the injection of a solution for the purpose of tightening and strengthening weak tendons, ligaments, or joint capsules. Prolotherapy works by stimulating the body to repair these soft tissue structures. As we discussed above, one explanation for the lack of response to De Quervain’s tenosynovitis traditional conservative therapies is that their underlying problem, ligament laxity, is not being addressed.

If you would like to explore Prolotherapy as a treatment, contact our team below. If you would like to see more research please visit our articles:

Questions about our treatments?

If you have questions about your pain and how we may be able to help you, please contact us and get help and information from our Caring Medical staff.

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References

1 Mangukiya HJ, Kale A, Mahajan NP, Ramteke U, Manna J. Functional outcome of De Quervain’s tenosynovitis with longitudinal incision in surgically treated patients. Musculoskeletal surgery. 2019 Jan 1:1-5.  [Google Scholar]
2 Ippolito JA, Hauser S, Patel J, Vosbikian M, Ahmed I. Nonsurgical treatment of De Quervain tenosynovitis: a prospective randomized trial. Hand. 2020 Mar;15(2):215-9. [Google Scholar]
3 Tomori Y, Motoda N, Ohashi R, Sawaizumi T, Nanno M, Takai S. Preiser disease after repeated local glucocorticoid injections: A case report. Medicine. 2018 Sep;97(38). [Google Scholar]
4 Khoo A, Grattan CE. Making a dent with corticosteroid injections for de Quervain’s tenosynovitis. BMJ case reports. 2016 Feb 3;2016:bcr2015214225.  [Google Scholar]
5 Sears ED, Swiatek PR, Chung KC. National utilization patterns of steroid injection and operative intervention for treatment of common hand conditions. The Journal of hand surgery. 2016 Mar 1;41(3):367-73.  [Google Scholar]
6 Poublon AR, Kleinrensink GJ, Kerver AL, Coert JH, Walbeehm ET. Optimal surgical approach for the treatment of Quervains disease: A surgical-anatomical study. World journal of orthopedics. 2018 Feb 18;9(2):7. [Google Scholar]
7 Chen H, Yuan A. (548) Prolotherapy treatment for De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis and Intersection Syndrome. The Journal of Pain. 2015 Apr 1;16(4):S113. [Google Scholar]
8 Abi-Rafeh J, Kazan R, Safran T, Thibaudeau S. Conservative Management of de Quervain Stenosing Tenosynovitis: Review and Presentation of Treatment Algorithm. Plastic and reconstructive surgery. 2020 Apr 15;146(1):105-26. [Google Scholar]
9 Bhat AK, Vyas R, Acharya AM, Rajagopal KV. De Quervain’s tenosynovitis: a non-randomized two-armed study comparing ultrasound-guided steroid injection with surgical release. Musculoskeletal surgery. 2022 Feb 23:1-0. [Google Scholar]
10 Mandiroglu S, Alemdaroglu E. Idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome and de Quervain’s tenosynovitis: is there an association?. Somatosensory & Motor Research. 2021 Oct 2;38(4):353-6. [Google Scholar]
11 Young SW, Young TW, MacDonald CW. Conservative management of De Quervain’s tendinopathy with an orthopedic manual physical therapy approach emphasizing first CMC manipulation: a retrospective case series. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice. 2020 Jun 1:1-0. [Google Scholar]

This page was updated April 17, 2022

 

 

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