How do you deal with tendonitis or De Quervain's tenosynovitis? "De Quervain's tenosynovitis is a painful condition affecting the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist. Swelling and thickening of the tendon sheath make it hard to move the thumb or grip objects." I believe I'm dealing with this now and it really impairs paddling, fishing, and virtually anything else that requires gripping and or lifting. I'm currently wearing a brace/splint which does help to a degree. Other than a visit to my orthopedist, I was curious to see if anyone else has suffered from this and how it affected all aspects of their fishing? Having to paddle against strong winds was a real killer for me and now I'd seriously consider scrubbing a trip if the winds are strong.

Being that I'm niot a doctor, maybe it's just early onset rigor mortis.....😃

Do you have any numbness in your little finger and up the side of your hand? A doctor will have you see a neurologist and they’ll test for a pinched nerve. I had cubital tunnel syndrome. Which was a pinched nerve in my elbow. I needed surgery to relocate the nerve. Totally fine now, but wore a partial cast for at least a month.

14 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Do you have any numbness in your little finger and up the side of your hand?

No numbness at all. Just pain and swelling at the base of the thumb.

I get tendinitis fairly often, shoulders, elbows, forearms, for various reasons. For some it’s just minimizing use, for my shoulders it’s mostly PT and learning what movements to avoid. For hand issues, carpel tunnel and trigger fingers, I go to the hand doc.

When these are acting up I have to avoid fishing. I might be able to paddle some, and cast lightly, but it just aggravates the issue.

Just to throw it out there, I had wrist/hand issues from casting heavy baits on spinning gear, pinching the string going into a cast seemed to be the culprit. Started using casting gear a few years ago for the heavy stuff, cleared that up.

I get some pretty gnarly flare ups a couple times a year in my right wrist/hand. Doc told me to try icing it, which was a pain in regions other than my wrist, but it does help a lot.

My wife found a “Copper Freeze” wrist thing at Wally World, and it was $20 well spent. I ended up buying a couple extras that I keep frozen and toss in the cooler if I’m doing something other than hanging around the house when it’s acting up.

6 hours ago, padlin said:

When these are acting up I have to avoid fishing. I might be able to paddle some, and cast lightly, but it just aggravates the issue.

This is what I'm afraid of.... I'll usually go fishing in less than ideal conditions. Now, I'll scrub a trip if the conditions will exacerbate the thumb/wrist pain.

5 hours ago, ElGuapo928 said:

My wife found a “Copper Freeze” wrist thing at Wally World, and it was $20 well spent.

I ordered one. I'll see if it helps. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hope it helps! They’ve been a lifesaver for me.

I have slight tendinitis in my right hand. What worked for me is I ended up searching stretching and strengthening exercises on YouTube.

I follow this set of exercises mainly.

https://youtu.be/bOXI-wxepmI

Stop all yard work, house chores, and any other activity that can aggravate the condition. Go fishing, rest up then go fishing again.

15 hours ago, king fisher said:

Stop all yard work, house chores, and any other activity that can aggravate the condition. Go fishing, rest up then go fishing again.

I like this Rx. Prescription strength, correct?

In the middle of last month I had some wrist issues.

Intially I was calling it a sprain but later realized that I was more likely dealing with tendonitis.

Experience mild pain and slight swelling, with minimal impact on my wrist's range of motion.

Resistance training has its benefits but doesn't make a person immune from injury.

If anything, it might increase the percentages as I'm active daily.

Have had this injury a couple of times in the past, never really know how I end up doing it.

Sort of just comes on.

My go-to has been the R.I.C.E. route.

Rest, ice, compression, and elevation.

Wearing a wrist brace 24/7, especially sleeping. Huge benefits as we heal while we sleep

So keeping the area immobilized then seems to promote faster healing—if there is even such a thing.

Following this type of recovery protocol has worked.

The older I get, the longer it takes. Just have to ride it out. #hateit

Happy to say that I've healed sufficiently to where I'm able to be off the wrist brace and

have even been back to training for a couple of weeks.

Doing some soul searching, while I do not paddle a kayak, many hours of working a jerkbait a day, for several days in a row, might be the cause.

Especially after a long winter layoff.

Here's to healing and staying healthy.

A-Jay

I had to swear off the jerkbaits. They hurt me.

Yes. What really aggravates my thumbs is hauling rope. I fished a windy weekend without a trolling motor earlier this spring and and the anchor hauling made me hurt for days.

Something I've found helps that others haven't mentioned is wearing carpal tunnel night braces(see pic) with the thumb tucked inside. Minimizing movement at night is easier for me than during the day.

P.S. You're not alone. Arthritis at the base of the thumb is the most common form and my doc diagnosed mine at 38yo. We ask an awful lot out of that little joint.

See a doctor and do what they say first snd foremost.

With that disclaimer in place, this is what worked for me. My tendinitis was in my outside left forearm and ran down to my wrist. The first time it flared up, I did many of the things that have been recommended (ice, wrist brace, advil, etc. ) until it went away in a couple of weeks. I tried to rest it, but part of me thinks I am still a young man. Eventually, it healed. However, after the third or fourth flare up, I started the quest to cure myself.

While I was actually injured, there wasn’t much to do except wait for it to heal. However afterwards, I followed some advice for a preventative measure. I read that tendinitis could be caused by an under developed tendon attached to a muscle in an antagonistic pair. The stronger muscle just runs the weaker tendon ragged. The suggestion was to weight train the weaker muscle and tendon once it was healed. I started putting my left forearm on the edge of a table with my hand hanging over the edge and a 10# dumbbell in my hand, palm down. I did about 3-4 sets of 10 reps every other day focusing as much weight on my pinky and ring finger as possible.

I haven’t had a flare up in years. This thread just reminded me to start doing them again so thanks for that!