Acupuncture is very effective in treating trigger finger

Trigger finger, also known as stenosing tenosynovitis, is a painful condition in which one of your fingers gets stuck as it bents towards the palm. Recently it was reported that acupuncture could significantly improve symptoms of trigger finger after a few sessions of treatment. The clinical study was published in the journal of Acupuncture in Medicine.

Trigger finger occurs when the affected finger's tendon sheath becomes irritated and inflamed that narrows the space within the sheath that surrounds the tendon in the affected finger. This interferes with the normal gliding motion of the tendon through the sheath, leading your finger become locked in a bent position. People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are at higher risk of developing trigger finger. Treatment of trigger finger varies depending on the severity and includes avoiding activities that causes pain, a small splint to hold the finger at the night, local steroid injection and surgery. However, results of therapies are not all satisfactory.

Recently Dr. Inour and colleagues in Japan conducted a small clinical study to assess the effect of acupuncture performed at the synovial and ligamentous tendon sheath (A1 pulley site) on pain during snapping and the severity of the snapping phenomenon in patients with trigger finger. Acupuncture was performed on 19 fingers of 15 patients. Acupuncture needles were inserted into the radial and ulnar sides of the flexor tendon at the A1 pulley of the affected finger. Treatment was performed daily up to a maximum of five times. Before and after each treatment, pain during snapping and the severity of snapping were evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS).

It was found that VAS scores for pain and snapping severity were significantly improved immediately after the first treatment and reached statistical significance from the second treatment onwards. Similarly, a significant improvement in the severity of snapping was observed from the second treatment. Patients with clinically significant improvements had a significantly shortened duration of the disorder.

Authors proposed that acupuncture may reduce inflammation/swelling of the synovial membrane of the tendon sheath and could be effective alternative treatment for patients with trigger finger.

Reference

M Inour et al., Acupuncture for the treatment of trigger finger in adults: a prospective case series. Acupunct Med doi:10.1136/acupmed-2016-011068.   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27401746