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Lump in the palm of the hand.


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Woke up one morning and noticed there was a hard swollen area in the center of the palm of my right hand. It doesn't hurt or otherwise affect the mobility of the middle finger over which tendon the swelling is located. I was in the doctor's office for an unrelated complaint and asked him about it. He said as long as it doesn't hurt, don't worry about it. If it does start to hurt he would send me to a hand specialist. It is not a neuroma or a glial cyst. He thinks it might be a ruptured or torn tendon sheath, but is surprised that it doesn't hurt. Have any of you folks ever heard of this problem?

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Had something similar but on the elbow - for 6 months after a mt. bike fall. I thought it was a bone chip floating around. Apparently not - doc said the same thing torn tendon sheath (maybe that's the bum's rush answer). Went away by itself.

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cbs~ i partially tore a tendon and tore a tendon sheath in my hand. hurt really bad (commercial crab fishing 2 days after the fact didn't help) and i had to stop climbing (rock and ice madgo_ron.gif) this winter. i had a bit of a lump in my hand that would come and go. I think it was the tendon sheath floating a bit, which would sometimes create pain othertimes not. i found that various exercises helped the pain and have started to bring back some strength (after it happened i had the strength of "a little girl" or at least that's what the PT told me) oh i also get pain in my carpultunnel and muscle insertion point when I climb now. so i cut back the climbing if it starts getting aggrivated. so if yours doesn't hurt then be happy, if it does get painful have someone who knows give it a massage they can maybe move the sheath around to a painfree spot.oh and watch out for the shallow 2-finger pockets, they can really aggrivate/cause this type of injury.

cheers

bw

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When I was in college taking Organic Chemistry, our professor was a distinguished fellow, head of the department, H. Moore. He told a story about when he was himself a student and how his professor was talking about phenol. The prof. said to be careful with phenol because contact with skin will cause a blister. So what does our young Mr. Moore do? He puts some phenol in the palm of his hand to see what would happen. Sure enough, it raised a big, painful blister, just like his prof. said it would. cantfocus.gif

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question? how much climbing do you do? is that the hand you mostly hold the rope with? were you recently doing alot of rope work?

 

the reason i ask....i climb tree's for a living. when i'm limb walking and getting around in a tree i tend to hold the rope in my left hand. on my palm between my pinky and the next finger there is a small depression and a then a small lump. i feel no pain from it. most tree climbers i know have it from gripping a rope so much. i was told it's a tendon thing but since it doesn'e bother me i never saw a doc about it.

 

 

Edited by treeman
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I have one of these lumps in each hand. They are alligned with my ring finger tendon. A doctor once told me it is Duypetrens Contracture (Sp?). That ailment is more common with older folks and I'm only in my late 20's, so I don't really know. Good luck finding out more. I want to hear about it.

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CBS: since your lump came about so fast, maybe there's hope that it's related to a little trauma or injury that you have sustained? Hopefully it will go away in 6 weeks? Me - I've had these damn things on my hands for over a year now, and it sucks on long bike rides, and when trying to parallel park my VW (no power steering), and when grabbing sharp JT slopers. I think the knife is in my future...

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So I messed my index finger up good on the SGH by icefall. This was about four weeks ago. I had x-rays taken and nothing was broken.

In the last few days I have noticed a lump on top of my index finger between the 2nd and third knuckle. I don't think it could be bone, so I am in the same boat as you CBS.

What the hell confused.gif

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Hey CBS, I've got 3 lumps in my hands, which I had checked out and sure enough they were Duturypen's disease or whatever it's called. My doctor told me that they were prevalent in men from the Scandinavian countries and that unless they hinder mobility, they're no big deal. Little fuckers make me nervous every time I poke them, though. Thye haven't gotten in the way of climbing or my other vices (guitar playing). I know it's already been mentioned, and that's probably not what's going on with your hands, just thought I'd share what little I know.

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I would bet it's some type of synovial cyst. The most common place for these is on the back of the hand and wrist, but they're possible anywhere there is a synovium (fluid filled compartment preventing friction between bones and tendons). When the connective tissue surrounding the synovium is compromised (e.g. by trauma) the fluid filled sac pooches out (medical term) and can sometimes feel fairly solid. The common name for this is a "Bible cyst" because the old fashioned treatment was to slam a Bible down on it to rupture it. The best diagnostic test would be to stick a needle in it and aspirate. If a thick gummy liquid comes out and it disappears, then it's a synovial cyst. It may come back and sometimes require additional aspiration. Injecting steroids rarely helps. For large and recurrent cysts, surgery is sometimes done. The best person to examine it is an orthopedic hand specialist if your M.D. doesn't have the competency to put a needle in it.

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  • 4 months later...

About one year after one apeared in my left hand, one apeared on my right. In line with the tendon from my ring finger. That was three years ago. Most of the pain i feel is when mountain biking, long ski tours, etc. Or when trying to stretch my fingers. (like when doing a hand stand). How much mobility do you have with you fingers - i.e., how far back can you bend them?

 

I am curious to hear what your doc says.

Edited by dylan_taylor
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Dr. Doug Hanel, Harborview Medical Center http://www.orthop.washington.edu/faculty/Hanel

 

Dr. Ed North, Evergreen Proliance Group http://www.proliancesurgeons.com/698.html?page=698&SESSION=e2ef8244682604d7bc341e6797fc8143&s=0

 

Dr. Carlton Keck, Seattle Hand surgery group http://www.seattlehand.com/keck.html

 

Dr. John Sack Seattle Hand surgery Group http://www.seattlehand.com/sack.html

 

There are lots of great hand surgeons in the city, these just came to mind off the top of my head...

 

They probably won't want to do surgery unless it's hindering your mobility.

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  • 1 year later...

Well, icegirl, I showed my hand to the hand specialist and she thought it was Dupuytren's contracture. frown.gif I'm going to get an ultrasound to determine whether there is ganglion cyst in addition to the cords. I'm not happy about this. There is very little that can or should be done unless the condition becomes much worse.

 

[update]

 

Ultrasound shows that there is no fluid-filled cavity. Hence the differential diagnosis is Depuytren's.

Edited by catbirdseat
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