Peripheral Nerve Disorders—Finger Injuries and Disorders

You use your fingers and thumbs to do everything from grasping objects to playing musical instruments to typing. When there is something wrong with them, it can make life difficult. Common problems include

• Injuries that result in fractures, ruptured ligaments and dislocations
• Osteoarthritis – wear-and-tear arthritis. It can also cause deformity.
• Tendinitis – irritation of the tendons
• Dupuytren’s contracture – a hereditary thickening of the tough tissue that lies just below the skin of your palm. It causes the fingers to stiffen and bend.
• Trigger finger – an irritation of the sheath that surrounds the flexor tendons. It can cause the tendon to catch and release like a trigger.

• Claw hand (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Clubbing of the fingers or toes (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Finger pain (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Mallet finger – aftercare (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Polydactyly (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Smashed fingers (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Trigger finger (Medical Encyclopedia)

Also called: Neuritis, Peripheral neuritis, Peripheral neuropathy

Your peripheral nerves are the ones outside your brain and spinal cord. Like static on a telephone line, peripheral nerve disorders distort or interrupt the messages between the brain and the rest of the body.

There are more than 100 kinds of peripheral nerve disorders. They can affect one nerve or many nerves. Some are the result of other diseases, like diabetic nerve problems. Others, like Guillain-Barre syndrome, happen after a virus infection. Still others are from nerve compression, like carpal tunnel syndrome or thoracic outlet syndrome. In some cases, like complex regional pain syndrome and brachial plexus injuries, the problem begins after an injury. Some people are born with peripheral nerve disorders.

Symptoms often start gradually, and then get worse. They include

• Numbness
• Pain
• Burning or tingling
• Muscle weakness
• Sensitivity to touch

Treatment aims to treat any underlying problem, reduce pain and control symptoms.

NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke

• Axillary nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Chronic inflammatory polyneuropathy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Common peroneal nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Distal median nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Femoral nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Glossopharyngeal neuralgia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Metabolic neuropathies (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Mononeuritis multiplex (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Neuralgia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Neuropathy secondary to drugs (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Peripheral neuropathy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Radial nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Sensorimotor polyneuropathy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Tibial nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Ulnar nerve dysfunction (Medical Encyclopedia)