I injured my thumb at work last September. It took 8 months before I had surgery. MRI was negative - Workman's comp. - long story.

When the doctor went in, he saw that the UCL was completely torn off of the bone. He took a piece of the tendon from the inside of my wrist to reconstruct. It has been 4 months since my surgery, and it is still bothering me. It actually hurts more now than it did before surgery. There is also less mobility, and I recently discovered, by doing the deflection test myself, that the thumb deflects about 30 degress - about the same as it was before surgery. I have had three setbacks during therapy where it was aggravated with extra pain and swelling.

I beleive, according to how far the thumb abnormally bends out, that the repair is damaged. The doctor said that it was stable about 6 weeks ago, but I believe that he thought so because the cast only had been pretty recently removed, and also because I may have been tense and the thumb not relaxed. The cast causes everything to thighten up and it may have took a while, including the setbacks, before any lack of stability could be noticed.

When a G.P. first sent me to this specialist, he did the deflection test and said that the ligament was torn. But when the MRI was negative, they put me in a cast. 5 weeks after the cast was removed, he said that it seemed stable. However 5 months after, he said that it was unstable. So, I think the same scenerio may have happened this second time, as it is taking a while to see if that the repair is unstable.

If the repair is damaged, would they then decide to fuse the joint?

I see the doctor Wednesday, but I would like your thoughts on this. I want to be prepared when I see him, because Workman's Comp. has been fighting me the whole way.

Thanks