Conditions and injuries of the finger, hand, wrist, forearm and elbow: what they are, how they behave, and when they stop being minor.
Trigger thumb is the thumb tendon catching on a thickened pulley at its base. Caught at the click stage, most settle with a night splint in 6 to 10 weeks; after a release, full use is usually back by 6 to 8 weeks.
A TFCC repair takes 4 to 6 months to return to heavy work and sport, with forearm rotation blocked for about 6 weeks. A TFCC debridement is much quicker, usually 4 to 6 weeks.
Most people are back to normal daily use about 6 weeks after ganglion cyst removal, with push-ups and weight through the wrist last at 2 to 3 months. The two things to know: it can come back, and the scar can leave you stiffer than the lump did.
Finger joint replacement recovery takes about 3 months for everyday use and 6 months or more for the final result, with a day splint for 6 to 8 weeks and a night splint to around 3 months. Expect less pain and straighter fingers, not more movement or strength.
A fused joint usually knits in 8 to 12 weeks and most people are back to full use in 3 to 6 months. You lose movement at that one joint only: a fused wrist still turns palm up and palm down, and the work afterwards is keeping every neighboring joint moving.
Expect about 3 months of hard work after elbow release surgery: movement starts within 1 to 2 days, and the daily range work and splinting in the first 6 weeks decide how much of the operating-room range you keep.
Most people are back to light everyday use 6 to 8 weeks after wrist plate surgery and to heavy lifting and sport at 3 to 6 months. Move early, load late, plus the thumb tendon check to do weekly for a year.
Desk work in 1 to 2 weeks after a simple cubital tunnel release, 2 to 4 after a transposition. Pain goes first, tingling next, numbness over months, strength last and least reliably.
A repaired nerve in the hand regrows at about a millimeter a day, and the final result takes 12 to 24 months to judge. Here’s the tingling sign you can track monthly at home, and the sensory re-education that decides how usable the hand ends up.
Most people are back at a desk 1 to 2 weeks after scaphoid surgery and back to heavy work or contact sport at 3 to 6 months, once a CT scan confirms the bone has healed. Here’s the week-by-week timeline, exercises and red flags.