Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Trigger finger. Chances of recovery without surgery?

Tape it to immobilize it for a few days or until it improves. Arthritis complicates things. A doc pushed a $10,000.00 on my thumb, swearing it would never heal otherwise. Wrong!

I have had the surgery. Not too bad. Those shots hurt like hell though.

You might try one of those paraffin baths .

It is plastic bowl, with a heater, big enough to dip your hand in. It comes with with some paraffin. It melts the paraffin.You dip each hand in 6-8 times, a few seconds each. Wait a bit and then peel the paraffin of while it is still pliable. I use one every morning for my arthritis and it seems to help the trigger finger. Won't cure it but helps.

Stores like Bed Bath & Beyond carries them. About $40

I would try a cortisone shot first. If I couldn’t get it back to normal by soaking and flexing it.

I’ve had many cortisone shots into my shoulder for a rotator cuff injury. They work great! Right up to the point I do something stupid and tear it again.

🦫

I just had the surgery on "the long finger" on my left hand, middle finger is no longer politically correct. I had the cortisone shot six months ago and it worked great for 6 months so I decided to have the surgery, it took 8 minutes, I wasn't happy about the tourniquet on my arm. Second surgery for me, right hand surgery wasn't perfect, tried a new doc this time. Kind of hurts now and hand is swollen.

I hope things turn out well for you Mark. You need to get it taken care of ASAP, you need that finger for driving........

Take your cortisone shots and shove 'em where the sun don't shine!!! LOL!

To each his own!
My right thumb was so bad it would wake me up at night.
Surgery wasn't bad. Thumb was pretty weak for a couple of months until usage recovered flexibility and strength.

I was offered cortisone shots for my shoulder. Then the doctor told me that the shot would only work for so long, then he'd have to do it again.....OR.....total shoulder replacement
🤔Hmmmm.....repeated painful shot to shoulder or the one time pain of surgery?
"Let's schedule the surgery, Doc!"
Shoulder isn't back to 100%, but the replacement is less painful and more functional than the damaged shoulder* was!

* - I couldn't get my arm above shoulder height without assistance from my left hand.
I could NOT reach the back of my head with my right hand.
I could hardly feed myself with my right hanf.
Strong recoil (12 gauge) was unbearable on my right shoulder.
Inadvertent movement while sleeping would "rudely" awaken me in the middle of the night!....numerous times!!!

Biggest "con" is that the replacement won't handle heavy recoil.
To overcome that, I've put away (not sold!) all my fixed (bolt, pump, falling block) action firearms and gone to semi auto rifles (AR) and shotguns (Rem "Sportsman").
The old Rem is recoil operated, but I'm not a bird hunter, except for turkeys. It's comfortable to shoot, but I would NOT want to spend a day at thd trap range with it! LOL!
Sometimes you just gotta pick your battles.

I resolved mine with stretching and Glucosamine and chondroitin. The Glucosamine chondroitin helped all my joints. I didn’t think it was doing much of anything but kept on it until the bottle ran out. A day later I was aching all over and my finger was catching again. I bought another bottle of glucosamine and chondroitin and haven’t missed taking it since.

I hear you. I don’t know how well an injection of cortisone would work to a finger joint. Never had one.

I do know that the fist time I got an injection into my shoulders Bersa sack, when I saw the length of the needle, I seriously started to question my decision. Wipe sweat from brow. 😳

The doc told me to relax…He’d mixed some Lidocaine with the cortisone. I barely felt anything.

I’ve had 6 injections over the years. Each time, different doc’s seem to use lidocaine mixed with the cortisone - like it’s standard procedure. None have been painful.

YMMV

🦫

I've torn the meniscus in both knees, my right knee close to 20 years ago and the left probably 12 years ago. Doc alternates knees depending on which one he injects with cortisone, Injection can last a few days or way longer. I have to have my right knee done soon as walking is not fun. Left is acting up a bit as well. The right was given a shot about three years ago and the left maybe two so I lucked out there. One time the right knee quit just about a week after the shot and had to be done again. Gonna call the doc this coming Monday AM. I should have called him yesterday but got tied up with business. Might be a fun weekend.
PJ

Get your hand examined by a hand specialist. You can't fix worn out joints with cortisone shots and rehab. If you can't use your finger at all because of joint pain the finger muscles will go disappear for good.

I've had trigger finger release surgery twice, on the same hand. No problem. Easy rehab took 10 days if memory serves. My doc said injections might help, but that surgery would solve the problem. He was right. I'd not hesitate to do again.

Go to a Dr. band have it looked at . A friend had that and he needed surgery and minor therapy .

Ring finger on my right hand and damaged thumb right hand. Both needed surgery. Had a "tendon release" on the thumb. Tendons aren't cut, it's the tendon sheath that's snipped, apparently it grows back. More of an inconvenience than anything. Thumb is fine now, can move it without pain. Had it fixed about 8 months ago. I take turmeric daily, the ring finger seems to be getting better slowly. Decided against surgery. Tried cortisol shot, waste of money for me.

@ PJgunner
"... I have to have my right knee done soon as walking is not fun. ..."

Don't wanna tell a man his "bidness", but I've had two replacement surgeries. Hip and shoulder.
Hip I put off until I walked (hobbled?) around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Wife started about '02. "Get your hip done!".
Kept putting it off.
In '05, I realize I can't even sit in a rocking chair and get comfortable.
Between finding a doctor, presurgery testing, 6 weeks later I had a new(?) hip!
1) I could walk upright again!
2) no constant pain
3) getting out of a chair didn't take an act of Congress
AND.......
4) I could get down on the ground and get up on my own!!!

Shoulder:
I couldn't sleep at night. Shoulder would get uncomfortable and I'd turn over in bed. Searing pain would wake me up.
Wife showed me a skunk running across the yard. I grabbed a shotgun and took off.
Finally got close enough and lowered the boom!
The pain shooting through my shoulder almost made me drop the shotgun! 🤯!
Back to the doctor.
That's when I got the cortisone/replacement speech.
Well, I knew enough about the x-ray I was looking at to know, the shoulder was shot!

Both surgeries, I put off, delayed, disregarded time and again, KNOWING that eventually I was going to have to give in!

NOTE: the younger you are when you have a joint replaced, the easier it is to recover from the surgery....and the quicker you will be rid of perpetual pain.......and the longer you can enjoy life!!!! 👍

BUT YOU DO AS YOU WISH!!!!!! 🤐

True story!
I'm no Stringbean by any means, nor am I a Fatty Arbuckle either.
After the hip replacement, I became more active and even lost some weight.
Sitting in a deer blind one cold, frosty morning, I realized my butt was cold! 🤔
I'd never had that problem!?
Metal joints are cold! LOL!

If you have an injection, the doc will normally inject some lidocaine or something similar, let it work for a few minutes and then inject the steroid into the pulley. Sometimes you can feel a little “pop” when the needle penetrates the “pulley”.

Some docs won’t perform the pulley release until they’ve tried an injection to see if that works and for how long.

"... Some docs won’t perform the pulley release until they’ve tried an injection to see if that works and for how long. ..."

No offense, but I don't want a doctor that tells me what he will or won't do.
I want a doctor that tells me what he can and can't do.

Give me options and the expected outcome of each. I'll decide.
But then, I've had several orthopedic surgeries......soooo I'm kinda used to it! 😉👍(NOT an expert by any means!)

My VA doctor set me up with the Hand Plactic Doc. He wanted to try ths shots first but I told him wow I do not react well to the shots. He asked me to close the effected finger then open it. When I did and the release shook the examining table he agreed surgery would be best and set me up for surgery. Two weeks later it was done. Recovery was a piece of cake.

I like a doctor who understands the situation! 👍

I’m with you on the “what a doctor will or won’t do”
Sonsabiches act like they own your azz.
If a doc doesn’t understand that it’s a mutual arrangement about my health? His azz is fired. Done it before and won’t have a problem doing it again.

LOL! When the doctor showed me the x-ray of my shoulder it didn't take a genius to realize it was beyond repair.
He did offer cortisone shots as an option.
I let him know real quick he wasn't going to stick a needle in my shoulder. It was joint replacement or another doctor.
He gave me a wry grin and said, "I don't think cortisone would last very long, but I wanted to offer you the option. I think replacement is your best choice!"

Aug 9, 2019!
First 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in YEARS!
Almost as good as a organism! LOL!