tendonitis

[Guest guest]

From Karta Purkh Singh, Eugene:

 

Ouch! This condition can be supremely

painful and limiting. And the pain is not subtle- it’s very sharp and

stabbing.

This may be de Quervain’s tendonitis

(or tendonitis), or tenosynovitis of the wrist, once called “washer

woman’s sprain,” brought on by irritation or swelling of the tendons

found along the thumb side of the wrist. The muscles on the back of the

forearm connect to fibrous tendons, and when the muscles contract, they

pull the tendons toward the elbow and straighten the wrist and fingers.

It might fit other diagnoses, but nevertheless be tendonitis.

At the wrist, these tendons pass

through lubricated tunnels and glide beneath a thick fibrous layer. One

of these tunnels, a thick, tubular passageway about one inch in length,

lies directly over the bony bump at the base of the thumb, and serves as

a pulley so that the tendons will line up properly on the back of the thumb

bones, gliding smoothly, lubricated by synovial fluid.

Irritation causes the lining around

the tendon to swell. The main symptom is pain over the thumb side of the

wrist, traveling up the forearm, which may develop gradually or appear

suddenly. The pain is usually worse when extending the thumb (the hitch

hiker gesture) and moving the joint may produce catching, grating, or snapping.

Repetitive trauma, overuse, or an inflammatory disorder is frequently the

cause.

De Quervain’s tendonitis occurs

most often in people between the ages of 30 and 50, and women experience

it 8 to 10 times more often than men, making it the second most common

entrapment tendonitis in the hand and wrist.

The condition can be treated by

a splint, which works only because you cannot use your thumb (just try

living like that), and usually returns as soon as the splint is discontinued.

A steroid injection is effective in about 95% of cases, but has serious

side effects, and can be given only a limited number of times. Mobic (meloxicam)

is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that would commonly be used to

treat this tendonitis. I think that we can find some herbal anti-inflammatories,

though.

First and foremost, consider turmeric.

One of the active ingredients, curcumin, has anti-inflammatory effects

comparable to cortisone and phenylbutazone, standard drugs for inflammation,

but it is nonsteroidal, so it has none of the damaging side effects. Besides

that, curcumin treats pain directly. Like cayenne, it depletes nerve endings

of substance P, the pain receptor neurotransmitter. For acute conditions,

the dose is high. Use 4 Tbs of powder per day, stirred into a bite of mushy

food. Or, consider using extracted curcumin in capsules at a dose of 2

grams per day. Turmeric excels as an external poultice. It will leave the

skin temporarily yellow.

Ginger is another good candidate

as an internal anti-inflammatory. Use 7 grams per day in capsules. A ginger

poultice also does a good job.

Willow bark contains plant salicylates,

which are the herbal forerunners of aspirin, and it really lives up to

its reputation for joint pain and inflammation. There are no special concerns

for using willow and it can be used for as long as necessary. Take a tea

brewed from up to 1 oz., dry weight, of the raw herb, per day, or an extract

containing 240 mg total salicin per day.

To help restore the damaged tissue,

consider Chinese teasel root (Xu Dan, Dipsacus asper), which is

a pillar of Chinese joint therapy and traumatic injury. Xu means connect,

and duan means severed; the herb reconnects broken bones or severed tendons.

Use up to 15 grams per day as powder or brewed into tea.

Ancient Healing Ways has an excellent

tissue healing, antitrauma salve, that I was involved with formulating

with Yogi Bhajan- Arnica Pine Salve.