It is an injury to the ligament of the thumb due to a fall with the load of the body transmitted to the thumb. Following a fall on the stretched-out thumb, the person gets swelling and pain on the inner aspect of the thumb. A special X-ray called a stress view is obtained: the injured area is very gently stressed to assess the extent of ligament injury. If the ligament is totally torn, the joint opens out abnormally on the X-ray. There may be a bony avulsion or a purely ligament injury. In the normal thumb the ligament is deep and the muscle superficial; in this injury the ligament comes to lie superficial to the muscle, the Stener lesion. This requires surgery to correct. Very tiny anchors may be required to fix the avulsion if the bone fragment is small.
Treatment area: Hand Trauma & Fractures. Related guide: Bennett Fracture: A Tiny-Looking Fracture That Can Be Easily Missed.