Physiotherapy Approach for De Quervain Tenosynovitis During and After Pregnancy

Abstract

Abstract: De Quervain’s tenosynovitis is an attritional and degenerative process. Pain results from resisted gliding of the abductor pollicis longus and the extensor pollicis brevis tendons in the fibro osseus canal. This review aims to evaluate the current literature surrounding evidence on physiotherapy approach for treating De Quervain's tenosyn-ovitis during and after pregnancy. One third of pregnant females are suffering from the pain in their wrist. Pain in the wrist is the third most common musculoskeletal pain during pregnancy after low back pain. Fluid retention, oedema, and repetitive forceful hand movements may cause stenosing tenosynovitis of the hand and wrist tendons. An overweight mother with her first pregnancy is at highest risk for developing De Quer-vain’s tenosynovitis. Treatment is aimed at reducing inflammation, preserving move-ment in the thumb and preventing reoccurrence. The symptoms should improve within four to six weeks. If non-invasive treatment is not successful, corticosteroid injections can be applied. De Quervain’s tenosynovitis has a good prognosis and non-surgical treatments are usually effective for pregnancy-related hand and wrist problems. Keywords: de Quervain’s tenosynovitis, pregnancy, post-partum, wrist pain, Finkel-stein test