What is Mama’s Thumb?

Question: What is Mama’s Thumb?

Answer:

Mama's thumb is more often called Mother's Wrist or De Quervain's syndrome. It is a repetitive stress injury that affects the back of your thumb and the thumb side of your wrist. Inflammation of the tendons or the surrounding anatomy is caused when irritation occurs with the sliding of the tendons back and forth through a narrow opening in the wrist. If you grip or pinch something while bending your wrist in an uncomfortable or overflexed way this irritation usually occurs.

It happens in a lot of new mothers.

One thought is that the repetitive and often uncomfortable cradling and lifting of the infant puts under strain on your thumb. Another thought is that the hormones that are running through your body that lets your tendons stretch out a makes you flexible enough to give birth leads to the irritation and swelling.

If Mama's Thumb had its onset during pregnancy or shortly after birth it can be expected to resolve itself shortly after the end of breast feeding. If it does not resolve then you should seek treatment for De Quervain's syndrome.