How to Treat Tenosynovitis

Tenosynovitis can be treated through various approaches, including restricting local activity, undergoing physical therapy, administering symptomatic medications, performing local corticosteroid injections, or conducting surgical intervention. If symptoms such as complete joint locking (inability to move the joint), marked local redness, swelling, heat, and severe pain occur, prompt medical evaluation and treatment at a hospital are strongly recommended.

1. Restrict Local Activity: Minimize repetitive flexion, extension, and gripping motions of the affected joint. Avoid prolonged, repetitive movements involving the fingers or wrist. Allowing the inflamed tendon sheath adequate time to heal reduces friction between the tendon and its sheath, thereby preventing further progression of inflammation.

2. Physical Therapy: Apply heat therapy or ultrasound to the painful area to enhance local blood circulation. This promotes the clearance of inflammatory metabolites, relaxes tense tendon tissue, alleviates distension and pain at the tendon sheath site, and improves discomfort during joint movement.

3. Pharmacologic Symptomatic Management: When pain and swelling are prominent, oral or topical anti-inflammatory and analgesic agents may be used. These medications suppress local inflammatory responses and relieve pain. During treatment, monitor for adverse reactions—such as skin irritation or gastrointestinal upset—and carefully control dosage.

4. Local Corticosteroid Injection: When conservative measures yield limited improvement and recurrent pain significantly interferes with daily activities, targeted injection of corticosteroids into the affected site may be performed. This helps reduce localized inflammation and alleviate persistent pain. Such injections must be administered under strict procedural guidelines, and subsequent management—including limiting joint activity intensity—remains essential.

5. Surgical Intervention: Surgery is considered when severe tendon sheath constriction leads to significant joint motion restriction and symptoms remain unresponsive to other treatments. The procedure involves releasing the constricted tendon sheath to relieve pressure on the tendon and restore normal joint flexion and extension.

In daily activities, regulate the duration and intensity of exertion, and intermittently rest the affected joint. After activity, ensure local warmth and avoid prolonged exposure to cold water. Minimize repetitive mechanical stress on the joint to reduce the risk of tenosynovitis recurrence.