What is De Quervain’s and how do I not get it?
Our amazing hands do so much for us as mums, from changing nappies, making ourselves a cup of tea, to lifting our babies up. That last one is particularly important because we do it A LOT.
Local GPs here in Launceston are saying that there is an increase in the amount of women presenting to their clinics with complaints of a sore thumb and wrists. The medical name for this is De Quervain tenosynovitis and it is becoming more prevalent during postpartum. De Quervain’s is an inflammation in the nerve in your wrist resulting in pain in your thumb and weakness in your hand. It can be from lifting our baby with our thumbs out in a L position underneath the baby’s armpits.
It can be difficult because as a new mum you don't really get a day off. You're picking up your baby countless times, feeding, change a 1000 nappies which is why it is so important to use good technique to protect your hands during these repetitive tasks, also, ask for help! We were never meant to do this alone. As new mums we need to build our villages, whether that be friends, family and / or neighbours, to support us and give our poor hands a break every now and then.
Even classes or activities we take our babies to that seam harmless can add to the strain on our hands. For example, you take your baby to music class and then that cute song comes on and we are all meant to dance along with our baby and our instincts are to hold our baby under their armpits with thumbs pointing up on either side and jiggle along to the tune. This is not great - try doing a bear kind of cuddle instead.
When picking up babies our goal should be to scoop up with thumbs in to avoid the access pressure on the thumb joint. Try to keep your thumb tucked in next to your index finger rather than extended away from the hand. For my mums I do gentle massage on the hands and arms to help relax and lengthen those busy hard-working muscles.
If you do get pain in your wrists and thumbs make an appointment with your GP who then might refer you to a hand occupational therapist. Here in Launceston we have the Health Nest and the super talented hand occupational therapist Sarah Lyne. She is fabulous and will give you a holistic approach to getting your wrists back on track. Once healed it is important to build up strength and continue to not lift your baby with your thumbs out under the armpits. Which is so tricky to do but it's just about being mindful.
The reason I wanted to write about this, is because this happened to me and it was nasty. As a remedial massage therapist who couldn’t use her hands I had a big problem on my hands! It was one of the instigating reasons I followed my passion and re-trained as a postpartum doula and here we are today!
Please spread the word and be kind to your beautiful hands.
Photo of my magical spirit fingers :)