The Hand

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Some of the commonest conditions affecting the hand are Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Trigger Finger or Thumb and Dupytren's Contracture.

In Carpal Tunnel Syndrome you get pins and needles in the thumb, index and middle finger often occurring at night and relieved by hanging the hand out of the bed or shaking it. A simple procedure done under local anaesthetic, can cure this by taking the pressure off the nerve at the wrist which is being squeezed and causing the tingling.

If you bend your finger or thumb and then find it won't straighten without a painful push causing a click, then you have a Trigger Finger. This occurs when the tendon that bends the finger develops a lump that can pass one way through the loops and pulleys that hold it in place but then can't go back the other way. This can be sorted out easily with a simple local anaesthetic procedure that instantly gets rid of the problem.

In Dupytren's Contracture, bands of tissue in the palm and base of the fingers, start to pull the fingers into a fixed bent position. This is progressive and can become a very significant problem. By surgically removing these bands the fingers will go straight, your hand can go flat and it becomes useful again