07/23/2026
Dr. Todd Gaddie, MD, one of our hand, wrist and elbow surgeons, talks about thumb pain and the common conditions associated with it based on the specifics of your pain.
Video transcript
Dr. Todd Gaddie:
Dr. Todd Gaddie here to talk to you about common causes of thumb pain.
In the hand world, when we think of thumb pain, we think of those associated with an injury and thumb pain that is not associated with an injury.
The most common things for non-injury thumb pain would be pain on the palmar aspect of the hand, on the bottom, usually at the base of the thumb. Sometimes it can be associated with some clicking or some catching of the thumb, where the thumb will actually get stuck in a down position. That is associated with a condition we call trigger thumb.
When we go to the top of the thumb, or the dorsal aspect of the thumb, you can have arthritis associated with any of the joints of the thumb. Most commonly, that’s the base of the thumb. It’s called your CMC joint. Pain is usually worse with pinching or grabbing.
The other common thing we think about is pain that is in the thumb and radiates down into the wrist. Usually that pain is worse when trying to lift things with the thumb up, and that’s a condition we call De Quervain’s tenosynovitis.
There are also some injury causes that we think of, and those can be fractures of any of the bones of the thumb, whether it’s the tip of the thumb, the middle of the thumb, or down at the base.
Ligament injuries are also very common and are usually associated with catching the thumb and bending it at an awkward angle. You can injure the ligament on the inside of the thumb as well as the outside of the thumb.
If you’d like a more accurate diagnosis, please come and see one of our board-certified hand surgeons at OrthoNebraska.
