Yes, you can play football and dance with damage to your thumb ligament. Hines Ward is a professional football player and the latest winner of Dancing with the Stars and he has done both with thumb ligament damage.
The time to pay the price is now, as it was announced he will undergo surgery for the ligament damage.
I find this fascinating on so many levels.
- Ward chose to participate in a TV show instead of having the surgery earlier.
- I don’t think it is out of the question to consider whether the dancing caused the thumb damage.
- In the attached picture it looks like his thumbs are working fine.
- With the lockout continuing does team management have to sign off on the surgery or not.
Anyway, it looks like you can have it all with the thumb damage. If you’re not as lucky as Hines Ward, we need to look at the details.
What is thumb ligament damage? You have two ligaments in the thumb: 1) Ulnar collateral and 2) Radial collateral. Almost all injuries happen to the ulnar collateral ligament. The ligament is actually torn through trauma such as falling on it. Abrupt injury is called Skier’s thumb.
What are the symptoms of thumb ligament damage? Pain with an inability to grasp effectively and some swelling. One of the ways you can tell there is something wrong with your thumb ligaments is to push the thumb at the joint in towards the palm. Pain indicates some damage.
How do you treat thumb ligament damage? For slight tears, a split and rest will take care of the problem. For chronic conditions, you’ll need surgery. This condition is called Gamekeeper’s Thumb.
How long to recover from thumb ligament damage? I have had a slight tear for 6 months now and it hasn’t healed fully, though I didn’t seek treatment. Had I sought treatment with a slight tear, I would have been better in four weeks. Surgery takes longer to heal depending on the rehab cycle.