Dr. Knight discusses Trigger Thumb surgery on the Doctors TV show.

• Video ID: awQBX1T-vxQ
• URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awQBX1T-vxQ
• Uploaded: 2015-07-07
• Duration: 296s
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Description (channel copy)

Dr. Knight talks about surgery for his patient with a trigger thumb on the Doctors TV show.

Transcript

even as small as joints in our bodies can obviously cause us pain as was the case for Leslie let's look at her story about two years ago I woke up and my thumb was in extreme pain when I actually bent it it felt like it was breaking an out but doctor told me I

have trigger finger this is as much as I can move it without pain right now day to day activities have become very challenging and difficult to do brushing my hair using the Carly and iron the fix everything that you do I am so excited to get this problem resolved let's see

how Leslie's surgery went good morning I know it's painful Trish try to bend for me if you can and just let's look compared to the other thumb Ben as far as you can just kind of show the difference here so that's how all you can bend the left thumb okay the

condition is called a trigger digit or in this case trigger thumb I'll make a little cut through the skin here and then I'll be looking at the band I'll make a little snip of that band and then we'll wake you up and then three stitches later you're done how long was

the actual procedure take it's going to take about five to ten minutes total time I think you'll see marked improvement you're mobilities and while you're on the operating room table

and looking forward to bending my thumb again now we're just gonna make a little incision for the crease of the thumb and we're just going through the tissue to down to the tendon here's the band we're gonna snip and I'm just going to put my scissors right underneath this band

we're just gonna watch the wound out and with some antibiotic solution and put a few stitches

this is what she couldn't do before surgery bend your thumb all the way for me sweetie there you go see that right she could see the got the tendon completely released now she has full mobility I think Leslie will be happy look at her

right now she's moving in completely hey you know good I mean my thumb I can move it I'm so excited look at that I'm here with hand surgeon dr. John Knight from the hand and wrist institute in Beverly Hills California along with this patient Leslie so before

we talk a little more about what this trigger finger is can you show us oh I can bend my thumb I'm getting all the strength back it's I wish I don't see it ketching nope no pain no pain Wow okay and I wish I would have done in a year and a half ago

well I'm glad that you came to get resolution a lot of people suffer from a trigger finger right right it's the most common procedure we take care of as a hand surgeon work more common in carpal tunnel so let's show people what trigger finger is I know we have an illustration

here sure on the illustration you'll see bands or tendons to go to the tip of the finger and it's in the palm area that that you get a little swelling or inflammation around the tendon eventually over time you actually may form a nodule and that nodule

is like a rope going through a pulley it starts to snag and we have a demo here I don't know if this is really going to do justice because it's obviously difficult sometimes with demos but again this is the tendon it's going it's going through that sheath and this is one without

right no friction smooth gliding and that's in all the tendons have been the fingers down go through a system of pulleys and then there's what the there's usually the first pulley that's in the palm or at the base of the thumb and it forms a little knot on it like

this knot on this rope here or this ball and it impedes the thumb movement so when we do the surgery just snip it and that relieves the pressure so by getting rid of that and it obviously moves freely through the pulley system as evidenced by your

or quick recovery are there things that people can do in their daily life to hopefully prevent this from occurring in the first place absolutely surgery is a last resort you know what the first thing is looking at economics less repetitive use too much

texting too much keyboard just said as much as you can you know over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicine and just rest there's a no really the hallmark of conservative treatment is a cortisone shot right where the tendon is if it's mild case

then it can respond favorably of that in her case though when you can't bend it at all that's a pretty severe case it's not likely to respond to conservative tree so surgery is a last resort but it is an option for people who just have no

resolution with conservative treatments so happy that you're feeling better

you