During a consultation, your doctor will use various techniques in his assesment of the symptom: Finger pain. These may include a physical examination or other medical tests. Your doctor may ask several questions when assessing your condition. It is important to remember that your consultation is a two-way process and any extra information you can share with your doctor may help them with their diagnosis.
Some of the questions your doctor may ask are listed below:
Why: to establish if acute or chronic.
Why: to determine if local (e.g. pain around joint, around nail bed) or generalized finger pain.
Why: e.g. hand, wrist, arm, upper arm, shoulder - may help determine cause of finger pain.
Why: can help determine the cause of the finger pain e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome wakes the person in the middle of the night; cervical spondylitis wakes the person with pain and stiffness that persists well into the day; people with thoracic outlet syndrome find it difficult to fall asleep due to pain.
Why: helps determine the cause of finger pain e.g. carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms may be relieved by dangling the arm over the side of the bed.
Why: e.g. whiplash neck injury, fall onto outstretched hand, direct trauma to fingers - can determine possible cause of pain.
Why: e.g. Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Gout.
Why: carpal tunnel syndrome is not uncommon in pregnancy.
Why: diabetes or porphyria can be a cause of painful peripheral neuropathy; diabetes may be associated with erythermalgia; carpal tunnel syndrome may be caused by hypothyroidism, diabetes mellitus, amyloidosis, Acromegaly, rheumatoid arthritis and Paget's disease; Raynaud's phenomenon may be caused by rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, systemic sclerosis, polyarteritis nodosa, Buerger's disease, polycythaemia, leukemia, polymyositis , dermatomyositis; Hand arthritis may be due to systemic lupus erythematosus and scleroderma.
Why: some medications can cause peripheral neuropathy e.g. amiodarone , phenytoin, nitrofurantoin; beta-blocker blood pressure medications and ergotamine can cause Raynaud's phenomenon.
Why: certain occupations and sports requiring repetitive motions are at risk of causing overuse disorders e.g. process and meat workers are at risk of carpal tunnel syndrome and De Quervain's tenosynovitis due to rapid finger thumb and wrist movement; vibrating machinery workers are at risk of Raynaud's phenomenon.
Why: can be a cause of painful peripheral neuropathy.
Why: aggravates Raynaud's phenomenon.
Why: e.g. arsenic or thallium poisoning can cause painful peripheral neuropathy.
Sometimes, other symptoms may be present and may help your doctor analyse your condition. These may include:
Why: may suggest arthritic cause of the finger pain e.g. osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Reiter's syndrome, gout, systemic lupus erythematosus.
Why: if also paresthesia in the involved extremity this usually suggests herniated cervical disc , spinal cord tumor or cervical spondylosis. Other conditions to consider are brachial plexus neuropathy, thoracic outlet syndrome, cervical rib, Raynaud's disease, sympathetic dystrophy or various entrapment syndromes such as carpal tunnel syndrome and ulnar nerve entrapment at the elbow.
Why: pain originating from disorders from the neck can transmit to distal parts of the arm.
Why: can indicate septic arthritis, osteomyelitis.
Why: may suggest pulp space infection, paronychia, tendon sheath infection or acute gout.
Why: e.g. pins and needles affecting the thumb, index and half of the ring finger, worse after rapid use of the hands. May also have pain in the involved fingers radiating upwards as far as the shoulder.
Why: e.g. sequential discoloration of the digits from pallor to blueness to redness upon exposure to cold. When fingers become red they are painful.
Why: e.g. usually gradual onset of persistent pain and stiffness of the small joints of the hands and feet. May also involve the feet, knees, hips, shoulder, jaw and neck. Joint pain is worse on waking and relieved with activity.
Why: e.g. joint pain worse with initiating movement and eased by rest, associated with pronounced stiffness, especially after activity. Major joints involved are the finger, thumb and big toe joints. Other joints involved include knees, hips and spine.
Why: e.g. most common joints involved include big toes, other toes, ankles and knees. Fingers may be involved. Skin over joint is red, shiny, swollen and hot and very tender to touch. Attacks may be precipitated by alcohol excess, starvation, surgical operations and some drugs (such as frusemide and thiazide diuretics).
Why: e.g. joint pain in many joints, involves the joints of the hand in 25% of patients, soft tissue swelling causing a sausage shape to fingers, Raynaud's phenomenon.
Why: e.g. symmetrical arthritis of many joints, especially the small and medium joints of hand and wrist. It does not usually cause deformation of the joints.
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