Soaking your hands in pepper water can cure tenosynovitis

Many people don’t know that although Sichuan pepper is inconspicuous in our daily life, it has a good regulating effect on many diseases. For example, Sichuan pepper can be of great help in eliminating inflammation and killing bacteria. It can also play a role in clearing away heat. Soaking hands in Sichuan pepper water can effectively treat tenosynovitis. However, due to the particularity of the disease and the wide range of incidence, it is not recommended to use one method for long-term treatment.

This disease is often related to acute and chronic injuries and postpartum cold. Its clinical manifestations are mainly pain and tenderness in the palm of the hand and limited extension and flexion of the affected fingers.

It is more common in women and manual laborers, and often occurs on the thumb, middle finger and index finger, with a slow onset. The affected fingers have flexion and extension dysfunction, which is particularly obvious when waking up in the morning and can be alleviated or disappear after activity. The pain sometimes radiates to the wrist, and there may be tenderness when the metacarpophalangeal joint is flexed. Sometimes a thickened tendon sheath or a pea-sized nodule can be felt.

When the affected finger is bent, it suddenly stays in a semi-bent position. The finger can neither be straightened nor flexed, as if it is suddenly "stuck", causing unbearable pain.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that this disease falls into the category of "tendon injury". The Neijing states: "Yang Qi, when refined, nourishes the spirit, and when soft, nourishes the tendons."

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it originates from the hands, which are the end of the limbs, where Yang Qi is not easy to reach. Moreover, due to fatigue, Qi is depleted, resulting in local Yang deficiency, and wind, cold and dampness take advantage of the opportunity to enter, causing the tendons and veins to lose nourishment and the pivot to rotate poorly.

The treatment is suitable for dispelling wind and dampness, dispersing cold and relieving pain.

The recommended recipe is as follows: Take 15 grams each of Zanthoxylum bungeanum and Cynanchum wilfordii, and 10 grams of licorice. Grind into powder and bottle for later use. When using, cut the musk bone strengthening paste into 4 cm × 3 cm size, sprinkle the powder evenly on the plaster, the powder is about 1 to 2 mm thick, and then apply it to the affected area, once a day, 4 days as a course of treatment. Generally, 1 to 2 courses of treatment are needed to achieve the best results.

1. Liver and kidney deficiency and insufficient qi and blood are one of the main causes of tenosynovitis. With age, the essence of the liver and kidney declines, and qi and blood are insufficient. The muscles around the fingers of patients with tenosynovitis lack nourishment from qi and blood, the flexor tendons degenerate, and the secretory function of the synovial sheath decreases. Slight external stimulation can lead to inflammation of local tenosynovitis.

2. When the fingers are affected by external wind and cold, they are stimulated by coldness, which stagnates the blood circulation and causes blood stasis, which leads to pain and the onset of tenosynovitis. Therefore, this is also a factor that causes tenosynovitis.

3. The cause of tenosynovitis is also related to accumulated strain. Patients with tenosynovitis may overwork their fingers, frequently flex and extend their fingers, and overwork their tendons, causing repeated friction and compression of the flexor tendons in the bony fibrous tubes; or they may hold hard objects for a long time, causing compression of the bony fibrous tubes between the hard objects and the metacarpal bones, resulting in local congestion and edema of the bony fibrous tubes.

Prevention of tenosynovitis.

Wash your hands with warm water: Develop the habit of washing your hands with warm water after work. It is not advisable to use cold water. Exercise your hands appropriately and massage yourself. If you have this disease, it is important to treat it early to avoid it becoming a chronic disease.

Wrist rotation: When the stinging starts, there are gentle hand exercises you can do to ease the pain. Rotating your wrist is one of the simpler exercises. Twist your wrists for about 2 minutes. It exercises all wrist muscles, restores blood circulation, and eliminates the bent wrist posture that often causes symptoms such as wrist pain.