This page shows where you where you can find trigger points in the brachialis muscle. Figure 1. 4. I also do the strokes slowly to get the most out of it. My favorite is “The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief” by Clair Davies. But like a nice back massage after a long day, that pain often feels therapeutic, and almost enjoyable. You can overwork this muscle doing anything that requires your elbow to be bent for long periods of time – like playing the guitar, moving boxes, driving, using the computer, or crocheting! THANK YOU!! !My Dr. gave me steroids yesterday for this. Great article. Take a break at least once every hour or two hours. We’ve all heard about pain in the hand that holds your hook, but have you ever had pain in the hand that holds your project? First dorsal interosseous muscle contraction results in radiographic reduction of healthy thumb carpometacarpal joint. Rubber band resistance transforms this exercise into either an active resistive or isometric resistive exercise; see Figure 2. I can’t even intentionally reproduce the pain anymore! JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. I suggest them because they’ve been helpful to me, and I hope that they can help you too. The trigger points for the adductor pollicis are shown in Figure A black X’s. This page shows where you where you can find trigger points in the brachialis muscle. This page contains the trigger points for both the adductor pollicis and opponens pollicis. Jour Hand Ther. I know how it feels to want to crochet more but not be able to due to the pain. Mobargha N, Esplugas M, Garcia-Elias M, Lluch A, Megerle K, Hagert E. The effect of individual isometric muscle loading on the alignment of the base of the thumb metacarpal: a cadaveric study. You’re quite welcome, Sunnie. Muscle-joint-pain.com’s page on the adductor pollicis, Ground Up Strength’s page on the brachialis muscle. Ask the patient to make a “C” shape (Figure 3). Usually the first line of treatment is conservative. Here are a few more great resources I’ve found online. DeMott L. Novel isometric exercises for the dynamic stability programs for thumb carpal metacarpal joint instability. You must have JavaScript enabled in your browser to utilize the functionality of this website. I found that its mainly me binge crocheting for hours and holding too tight. An easy self-stretch for the adductor pollicis involves filling a basin with moderately warm water and pressing the hand palm down with thumb and index finger widely spread on the bottom of the filled basin. The opponens pollicis and adductor pollicis, shown in the left hand. I hope you were able to find some relief from your pain! I made this mistake early on. 2017 July–Sept;30(3):372–375. You can overwork these muscles if you hold something in your hand for a long period of time – so activities like drawing, sewing, or crocheting can cause this pain. 17, flexing the thumb IP and MP joints while extending /abducting the CMC joint, “assures that the extensor pollicis longus, the extensor pollicis brevis, and the abductor pollicis longus are all active, but their collective power is directed to the CMC joint.” These exercises should not exacerbate the pain and dosing must be to the patient’s tolerance. To make matters worse, I have a bad habit of holding my crochet project too tightly. However, I’ve learned not to overdo it. Every so often, I’ll catch myself holding the project too tightly again, and I relax my grip. 2. Thank you for this article. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. At the recent Philadelphia Hand Symposium, several therapists inquired about appropriate exercises for painful thumb CMC joint osteoarthritis. Stretching a tight adductor pollicis muscle is done manually by applying pressure to the web space of the thumb while pushing the thumb into abduction at the CMC joint; see Figure 1. Happy crocheting. After just 2 days of working on that trigger point, the problem seems to have completely resolved. I had to sift through a lot of that in order to find the information about pain in the hand that holds the project. The size of the spot can vary in size – from the size of a grain of rice to about the size of a quarter. But if you’re using thicker, rougher yarn, you end up having to hold your project more tightly so that it doesn’t slip out of your grip when you crochet. 1. It’s not surprising that I had pain there after crocheting for about 5 hours straight. Basically, the “meaty” area of your palm that moves when you move your thumb around. I often massage in one direction to make things easy for myself. Osteopractic, Cert. All 3 of these muscles can cause pain near the thumb if overworked. Please correct the marked field(s) below. You can resolve trigger points with proper massage. Once found, roll the golf ball in circles over the area to release the tension. I am going to try that trigger massage because nothing else helped. All that time spent studying anatomy in medical school would finally come in handy in crochet! Thank you again! It may not seem like a lot more work, but with every single stitch you make, your thumb has to hold your project more firmly for a moment. Yarns that were thicker or more “friction-ey” would sometimes cause me problems. Try a thumb stabilizer. Epsom salt with anti inflammatory essential oils worked pretty good. Thanks for the kind words! I narrowed down the muscles that were most likely involved to three muscles: the opponens pollicis, the adductor pollicis (not to be confused with the abductor pollicis) and the brachialis. I have the same pain in my thumb and was going crazy trying to get a answer. This page contains the trigger points for both the adductor pollicis and opponens pollicis. Such observation establishes the target goal for desired stability. That is exactly the problem I’m having and your post is so appreciated! 56, Exercise for a Painful Thumb CMC Joint?, April 2019. Thank you again! In human anatomy, the adductor pollicis muscle is a muscle in the hand that functions to adduct the thumb. Smoother or thinner yarns can be easier to work with. As for how hard you should press, you’ll want to aim for a pain level of 5 out of 10. Trigger points can cause pain near where they are, or in a surprisingly different part of the body. All that exertion adds up quickly. This muscle controls rotation and opposition of the thumb, or moving the thumb toward the hand. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), What to do About Pain in Your Left Hand From Crocheting, View lianainstitches’s profile on Twitter, View lianainstitches’s profile on Instagram. DN, Source, Environmental and Quality Certifications. 2. Will certainly look into massaging those trigger points. The red dotted area shows where you’d feel pain due to these trigger points. I’d love to hear from you. How Can an AFO Possibly Help Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction? Thank you so much for this Information. I just wanted to thank you for this article because I’ve been feeling pain in my thumb joint since I last crocheted 3 days ago and I wasn’t sure what was causing it (even though I’ve been crocheting for years)! Melinda, you might have to give your hand a bit of a rest for some time, while continuing the trigger point therapy. The first two are in your hand, and the brachialis is in your arm, but can cause pain in the thumb area. Clinical Pearl No. Did you find other ways to deal with it? Don’t binge crochet! Mainey, you’re quite welcome! Metrice, I’m glad you found a variety of solutions to your pain! It overlies the metacarpal bones and the interosseous muscles.