Dr. Knight on KCAL Speaking to Mommy Thumb

• Video ID: _KPbpmCsFeQ
• URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KPbpmCsFeQ
• Uploaded: 2015-11-13
• Duration: 246s
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Description (channel copy)

Dr. Knight appeared on KCAL 9 in Los Angeles to speak to Mommy Thumb.

Thank you to KCAL 9 for providing us with this video. Video credit: KCAL 9

Transcript

in this morning's HealthWatch multitasking moms might experience something called mommy thumb it's an extreme pain in the hand or wrist caused by constantly picking up your baby and even texting too much and here to talk about it as dr. John Knight from the

hand and wrist institute good morning thanks so much for joining us I have to tell you that my children are now 10 and almost nine I had never heard of Mommy thumb but I really believe I experienced it I was in a lot of pain obviously carrying my children a lot especially

when I had to juggling the to tell us first of all what is mommy thumb and and how is it different than carpal tunnel sure well Amy carpal tunnel is a pinched nerve in the wrist usually affects mothers or would soon to be mothers in her last trimester okay de Quervain's

tendonitis which has been called since the last century early last century has been reclaimed mommy thumb or blackberry thumb and it's a group of tendons that go along the outside of the wrist that pull the thumb out and from repetitive use of the thumb for mothers that lift

the babies up all day long under the age of two as the babies are getting heavier lifting the baby up under the armpit pulling the thumb out then also mothers more and more now breastfeeding and the way they hold their was risk when they breastfeed all that puts extra pressure

on the tendons causing inflammation this little tight space that the tendons run through and then the perfect storm working mothers typing using their blackberries all day adds to it that's the perfect storm and it is very painful i can say i would sleep with a wrist

band because i was in so much pain in the evening after carrying the two babies basically throughout the day now what can you do to treat this I mean besides a wristband which did help me but I was doing a lot of pain what other measures can people take sure well the

big thing is with any overuse rest well mothers can trust exact so that's unlike any other repetitive motion we see just what do we see mothers can trust so that's a frustration for me and for the mother you can't take away the baby so resting as much as you can during the

off time from the baby's sleeping wearing the brace when you sleep I the ibuprofen anti- inflammatories of the world this picture actually shows the tendon with the arrow to it that shows that tendon coming through the compartment and so all those along with

a wrist brace and cortisone shot is highly effective and about fifty percent of cases can wipe it out within a few days oh wow okay but for the extreme cases there is a procedure that you can do there is it through a 1 centimeter outpatient surgery procedure just under

local anesthetic little sad a little sedation we go in 10 minute procedure we open up that tunnel just like one or two stitches dissolves in a brace for a few days about a six-week recovery but again mothers can't rest so it takes a little everything takes longer and a mother

because they can't rest no are there things that we can do to prevent getting this I mean I did a lot of I think what they call that football hold with mine where I had my you know hands spread out with the thumb way back like you said I was doing it wrong apparently I should

have been carrying them like that sure well yeah obviously you can't rest too much but the key is when you pick up the baby is scooping the baby but it's awkward because most mothers are not going to jeopardize dropping their baby that's the only way holding the thumb in

and scooping up under the babies but it and under the torso and holding the head Wow and and this really is though different than people that have carpal tunnel although I guess you could have a combination of the two you can't have a combination but carpal tunnel syndrome

is a similar process but involves the nerve that goes through the palm of the rest and that causes numbness and tingling this is excruciating pain on the thumb side of the wrist and carpal tunnel is more numbness tingling shooting into the fingers more nerve

symptoms okay alright thanks so much dr. night and for more information on dr. Knight and treating mommy thumb head to our website kcal9.com and click seen on TV