Pulled a muscle below or on my.... THUMB???

Hey All,

I went on Vacay for 10 days, got back on Tuesday, started feeling a bit of strain on my right below my right thumb (probably from lifting suitcases, or carrying bags around the mile walk u need to do in the airport). Anyway, it was nothing and I said "hey, probably got this before".

Then comes last night... My thumb started hurting enough to wake me up a few times. To be specific, the pain is located on the Flexor Pollicus Brevis and Abductor Pollicus Brevis muscles below my right thumb. (This is just from a picture I googled).

Anyway it's a complete pain in the ass and I can't put ANY pressure on it. Even opening a car door has me screaming. I tried taking some tylenol, advil, aleave... I also tried soaking my hand in hot water, using a rub like A535.

Any thoughts on what this could be or what I should do? I'm icing it now...

If I think its what it is.

Which I hope its not it.

But if it is, then its probably a sprained thumb.

I say you put ice on it and let it rest for about two weeks.

Then slowly start doing some stretches and exercises for that part of your hand like gripping a tennis ball or something.

It could take up to a month to heal.

Good luck.

I hope to God that you are wrong... :(

I have a program coming up next weekend in which I need to be playing a percussion instrument.

And, I've been making such great gains every week on the TM... This is the strongest I've ever been. This break is not what I need.

When you sprain your thumb or wrist sometimes its not that bad you can still do a few things with it.

You can even try lifting with wrist support.

But I think those types of things just help to prevent further strain but it wont make it heal faster.

Kinda like when you sprain your ankle you try using a high top sneaker or boot for support.

But the pain or weakness isn't going anywhere for a while.

I tried to squat this morning and my hand was in pain... I have it wrapped with a bandage but it didn't seem to help.

Not happy right now.

Some co-workers mentioned that it sounds similar to when they get their thumbs jammed from basketball... It's a pain that stays around for a while.

I should probably go see a doctor to try and confirm what it is... Haven't seen one in 6 years.

This sounds really strange. Do the actual muscles that you mention hurt or do the joints of your thumb hurt ? If it's the muscles (the meaty part below your thumb) then it's presumably a muscle tear and you'd treat it w/ something like Star rehab (in this case prob something by squeezing a tennis ball as was mentioned, but don't wait two weeks ... do it after only a few days off). If it's the joints then maybe you did jam it somehow, though the few times i've jammed fingers there was nothing mysterious or ambiguous about it because it hurt like hell when it happened and it was followed by significant swelling. Do you have any swelling ? For jammed fingers it's just ice and rest and deal w/ it. I'd get a metal brace for it so at least it doesn't wake you up at night. Also once it starts healing a bit you're going to have to work its range of motion.... otherwise it might stay crooked.

The doctor is not a bad idea. An x-ray would reveal if you broke your thumb in a drunken vacation brawl that you don't recall. And if it IS broken then you don't want to be "working the range of motion" for a while, obviously.

Veryhrm:

I believe it is the actual muscle that's been hurting. I didn't feel any joint pain. In fact, I went to the doctor yesterday, he made me wiggle my thumb around a bit and mentioned to me that it seems to just be a muscle strain.

Anyway, I don't know if going to the doctor had a placebo effect on me, but the pain has subdued a LOT since then. He also mentioned to take 3 advils a day to help cope with any pain. I can finally lift things again (not weight training yet) with very minimal pain. I'll see how I feel tomorrow, give it a few more days, then start lifting.

The bad part is that it'll be a solid 3 weeks I haven't doing any weight training at all (Was on vacation for 10 days prior to the injury). If there's still too much strain to do any pressing or pulling, I'll @ least Squat (oh how I miss Squatting).

Thanks for everyone's responses though. I still don't quite understand how a bit of strain turned out to be sharp pains in the muscles right below my thumb... then suddenly go away...