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Thumb ligament sprain or tear

Often referred to as a Goalkeeper’s Thumb or Skier’s Thumb, a sprained thumb is a common cause of thumb injury, pain and swelling. It’s often called Goalkeeper’s thumb as usually it’s a thumb that many goalkeepers have, as the balls they deflect may hit on their thumbs. It’s called Skier’s Thumb as it’s a common ski injury.

Sprained thumbs usually referral to a damage to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), which can mean partial or full tear (see image below)

This injury is not exclusive to skiers or goalkeepers and can happen to anyone where the is enough force applied to the thumb that moves the thumb as far as possible from the hand.

Symptoms
Sprained Thumb Physiotherapy Singapore

In a severe case of a sprained thumb, you will often notice immediate thumb swelling and bruising that increases from the moment you injured your thumb. In some cases, the affected area may even turn bluish-purplish in color.

For people who has sprained thumbs for more than three (3) months (termed as chronic), you may find that when you feel and palpate the joint, you may find thickening of the joint.

The joint may feel more loose or lax, even unstable, when compared to the other thumb joint; and you may find increased difficulties when pinching or manipulating small objects between the thumb and index finger.

Hand Therapy Or Physiotherapy Treatment
Sprained Thumb Physiotherapy Singapore

What the hand therapist and physiotherapist will do is to immediately assess and diagnose your injury, and to test its severity. If we find that the joint is very unstable, or that the injury is very acute, we may prescribe a custom-made thumb and wrist splint to stabilize it first for four (4) to six (6) weeks.

In the early phase of therapy, we will focus on stabilizing the injury with the splint, as well as cold therapy to decrease the swelling and pain, as well as ultrasound therapy to accelerate soft tissue healing.

Once the injury is less acute, then we will gradually phase in mobilization, to introduce glide to restore lost thumb joint function. Progressively, we will work on strengthening and dexterity using a range of hand therapy exercises.

A dedicated physiotherapist and hand therapist program will likely help you to resolve your sprained thumb condition within six (6) to eight (8) weeks.