Gardener's Thumb

Cindy had been having a lot of pain in her left hand and thumb for quite a few months, and, of course, was far too stubborn to go to her doctor about it.  The pain and inflammation were so bad that her thumb was curling into her palm and she was unable to flatten out her hand without considerable pain.

She thought that this was the result of planting the garden last Spring and using her left hand to push up on the kneeler she uses.  Why the left hand?  Because you usually have something in your right hand, such as a trowel or another plant if you're right handed, so you use the left to push yourself up and that part of the left hand takes all the weight. The constant stress on her thumb probably tore something and the resulting inflammation caused the pain.  Eventually she began to lose range of motion with the thumb and even began to lose the ability to pick things up with that hand.

After watching her struggle with the turkey and heavy cooking pots at Thanksgiving, I was finally able to persuade her to get Class IV laser treatments from our chiropractor, Dr. Colleen Murphy; after the first treatment, she was able to flatten her hand again.  Since then the pain and swelling have been decreasing with every treatment, and we're very encouraged by this.

Now if she would just let it rest for a while it should be well by the time planting time arrives again.