Washerwoman’s Sprain has gone the way of dropsy and barrel fever

SOME conditions have been renamed due to the old ones becoming rather outdated.

Alcoholism was once called barrel fever, for instance, and heart failure was referred to as dropsy.

I identified a case of Washerwoman’s Sprain last week – or De Quervain’s Syndrome as it’s more commonly known these days.

It got the name after striking – you’ve guessed it – washerwomen of yore. It’s a painful inflammation of the tendons on the thumb side of the wrist which may occur after repeated overuse.

However, it’s not limited to people hand-washing clothes, which isn’t a common activity anyway in this age of hi-tech washing machines.

The condition can be brought on by anything which involves straightening and lifting the thumb. Hitchhikers beware.

The two tendons involved in this action run through a wee tunnel in the thumb-side of the wrist. If the tendons and their protective sheaths swell up, the tendons can’t move freely. The result is some pain on particular movements of thumb and wrist.

There can be a bit of swelling at the sore spot and even a clicking sound as the tendon moves.

It’s usually easy enough to diagnose in the surgery – I can manoeuvre the hand in such a way to see if the pain is reproduced.

It’s more common among middle-aged women, like one of my patients who experienced the problem after doing some DIY.

No matter – I gave her some anti-inflammatories and arranged for her to get a splint from the physiotherapist.

Steroid injections are available, and a surgeon can go in to make the wee narrow tunnel a bit wider for the tendons to pass through.