Stenosing tenosynovitis often presents with a painful and swollen thumb with limited range of motion, or a ring finger or middle finger with similarly limited motion. There is often a feeling of catching when the thumb is flexed. In the ring and middle fingers, often a nodule can be felt when you press the area of the hand where the palm meets the finger.

Finger injuries are usually diagnosed with x-ray and can get to be considerably painful. The majority of finger injuries can be dealt with conservative care and splints. However, if the bone presents an abnormal angularity or if it is displaced, one may need surgery and pins to hold the bones in place.

Trigger fingers is a common disorder characterized by catching, snapping or locking of the involved finger flexor tendon, associated with dysfunction and pain. It is a sub-set of stenosing tenosynovitis.

A disparity in size between the flexor tendon and the surrounding retinacular pulley system, most commonly at the level of the first annular (A1) pulley, results in difficulty flexing or extending the finger and the "triggering" phenomenon. The label of trigger finger is used because when the finger unlocks, it pops back suddenly, as if releasing a trigger on a gun.

Stenosing tenosynovitis (also known as trigger finger or trigger thumb) is a painful condition caused by the inflammation (tenosynovitis) and progressive restriction of the superficial and deep flexors fibrous tendon sheath adjacent to the A1 pulley at a metacarpal head. Repetitive forceful compression, tensile stress, and resistive flexion, causes inflammation, swelling, and microtrauma, that results in thickening (commonly a nodular formation) of the tendon distal to the pulley and stenosis of the tendon sheath leading to a painful digital base, limitation of finger movements, triggering, snapping, locking, and deformity progressively.

Patients report a popping sound at the proximal interphalangeal joint (PIP), morning stiffness with/without triggering, delayed and sometimes painful extension of the digit, and when more advanced, a locking position that requires manipulation to extend the affected finger. This condition more commonly affects the middle and ring fingers (occasionally the thumb), and the flexor rather than extensor tendons in the hand.

In rheumatic trigger finger (or in diabetes), more than one finger may be involved. Cases of stenosing peroneal tenosynovitis, have been reported where the patient presents with pain over the lateral malleolus, both with active and passive range of motion and no physical of radiographic evidence of instability.

Fractures of the fingers occur when the finger or hands hit a solid object. Fractures are most common at the base of the little finger (boxer's fracture).

Nerve injuries occur as a result of trauma, compression or over-stretching. Nerves send impulses to the brain about sensation and also play an important role in finger movement. When nerves are injured, one can lose ability to move fingers, lose sensation and develop a contracture. Any nerve injury of the hand can be disabling and results in loss of hand function. Thus it is vital to seek medical help as soon as possible after any hand injury.

Sprains result from forcing a joint to perform against its normal range of motion. Finger sprains occur when the ligaments which are attached to the bone are overstretched and this results in pain, swelling, and difficulty for moving the finger. Common examples of a sprain are jammed or twisted fingers. These injuries are common among ball players but can also occur in laborers and handy men. When finger sprains are not treated on time, prolonged disability can result.

Symptoms of gamekeeper's thumb are instability of the MCP joint of the thumb, accompanied by pain and weakness of the pinch grasp. The severity of the symptoms are related to the extent of the initial tear of the UCL (in the case of Skier's thumb), or how long the injury has been allowed to progress (in the case of gamekeeper's thumb).

Characteristic signs include pain, swelling, and ecchymosis around the thenar eminence, and especially over the MCP joint of the thumb. Physical examination demonstrates instability of the MCP joint of the thumb.

The patient will often manifest a weakened ability to grasp objects or perform such tasks as tying shoes and tearing a piece of paper. Other complaints include intense pain experienced upon catching the thumb on an object, such as when reaching into a pants pocket.

A "Jersey finger" is an injury to an FDP tendon at its point of attachment to the distal phalanx. This injury often occurs in American football when a player grabs another player's jersey with the tips of one or more fingers while that player is pulling or running away. The force of this action hyperextends the tip of the finger at the DIP joint while the proximal portion of the finger is flexed. This action can partially or completely rupture the FDP tendon at or near its attachment point on the distal phalanx. Sometimes, the force is great enough to pull off or avulse a piece of phalangeal bone to which the tendon can remain attached. Although it is a common football injury, this injury can occur during other sports or activities as well.

After the injury occurs, the torn FDP tendon may retract slightly, remaining in the finger near the PIP joint, or can retract more fully into the palm of the hand. A person who suffers a jersey finger injury in which the FDP tendon is completely ruptured cannot flex the affected digit at the DIP joint without assistance.

Signs and Symptoms include:

- A pop or rip felt in the finger at the time of the injury

- Pain when moving the injured finger and the inability to bend the DIPjoint

- Tenderness, swelling. and warmth of the injured finger

- Bruising after 48 hours

- Occasionally a lump felt in the palm of the finger

- Mallet finger deformity

The primary and most common symptom in patients with CMC OA of the thumb is pain. Pain at the base of the thumb is mainly experienced when moving the thumb or when applying pressure with the thumb. However, in advanced stages of CMC OA, pain might persist at rest. Another prominent symptom is loss of strength of the thumb. Patients struggle to grab or hold an object due to weakening of the thumb. For example, tying a knot or holding a saucepan becomes increasingly difficult.

If patients present themselves with similar symptoms, physicians should also consider De Quervain syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis or flexor carpi radialis and flexor pollicis longus tendinopathy as a possible cause.

Typical signs of CMC OA can be observed from the outside of the hand. For example, the area near the base of the thumb can be swollen and could appear inflamed. Advanced stages of CMC OA can eventually lead to deformity of the thumb. This deformity, also called a ‘zigzag’ deformity, is characterized by a deviation of the thenar eminence towards the middle of the hand, whilst the thumb phalanges overextend. Also a grinding sound, known as crepitus, can be heard when the CMC1 joint is moved.

The Jersey Finger is a finger-related tendon injury that is common in athletics and can result in permanent loss of flexion of the end of the finger if not surgically repaired.

This injury often occurs in American football when a player grabs another player's jersey with the tips of one or more fingers while that player is pulling or running away.

Symptoms are pain at the radial side of the wrist, spasms, tenderness, occasional burning sensation in the hand, and swelling over the thumb side of the wrist, and difficulty gripping with the affected side of the hand. The onset is often gradual. Pain is made worse by movement of the thumb and wrist, and may radiate to the thumb or the forearm.

Diagnosis is made almost exclusively by history and physical examination alone. More than one finger may be affected at a time, though it usually affects the index, thumb, middle, or ring finger. The triggering is usually more pronounced late at night and into the morning, or while gripping an object firmly.

Swan neck deformity has many possible causes arising from the DIP, PIP, or even the MCP joints. In all cases, there is a stretching of the volar plate at the PIP joint to allow hyperextension, plus some damage to the attachment of the extensor tendon to the base of the distal phalanx that produces a hyperflexed mallet finger. Duck bill deformity is a similar condition affecting the thumb (which cannot have true swan neck deformity because it does not have enough joints).

Trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis, also known as carpometacarpal (CMC) osteoarthritis (OA) of the thumb or osteoarthritis at the base of the thumb, is a reparitive joint disease affecting the first carpometacarpal joint (CMC1). This joint is formed by the trapezium bone of the wrist and the first metacarpal bone of the thumb. Because of its relative instability, this joint is a frequent site for osteoarthritis. Carpometacarpal osteoarthritis (CMC OA) of the thumb occurs when the cushioning cartilage of the joint surfaces wears away, resulting in damage of the joint.

The main complaint of patients is pain. Pain at the base of the thumb occurs when moving the thumb and might eventually persist at rest. Other symptoms include stiffness, swelling and loss of strength of the thumb. Treatment options include conservative and surgical therapies.

Gamekeeper's thumb (also known as skier's thumb or UCL tear) is a type of injury to the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) of the thumb. The UCL may be torn, damaged or in some cases avulsed from its insertion site into the proximal phalanx of the thumb in the vast majority (approximately 90%) of cases. This condition is commonly observed among gamekeepers and Scottish fowl hunters, as well as athletes (such as volleyballers). It also occurs among people who sustain a fall onto an outstretched hand, frequently skiers.

De Quervain syndrome, is a tenosynovitis of the sheath or tunnel that surrounds two tendons that control movement of the thumb.

Swan neck deformity is a deformed position of the finger, in which the joint closest to the fingertip is permanently bent toward the palm while the nearest joint to the palm is bent away from it (DIP flexion with PIP hyperextension). It is commonly caused by injury or inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis or sometimes familial (congenital, like Ehlers-Danlos syndrome).

Symptoms of Bennett fracture are instability of the CMC joint of the thumb, accompanied by pain and weakness of the pinch grasp. Characteristic signs include pain, swelling, and ecchymosis around the base of the thumb and thenar eminence, and especially over the CMC joint of the thumb. Physical examination demonstrates instability of the CMC joint of the thumb. The patient will often manifest a weakened ability to grasp objects or perform such tasks as tying shoes and tearing a piece of paper. Other complaints include intense pain experienced upon catching the thumb on an object, such as when reaching into a pants pocket.

A Stener lesion is a type of traumatic injury to the thumb. It occurs when the aponeurosis of the adductor pollicis muscle becomes interposed between the ruptured ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) of the thumb and its site of insertion at the base of the proximal phalanx. No longer in contact with its insertion site, the UCL cannot spontaneously heal.

Besides the clicking, snapping or triggering, a characteristic Notta nodule is commonly found on the palmar side at the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint. This nodule can be found by palpation. Children can also present a thumb which they cannot extend actively due to entrapment of the nodule to the A1 pulley. Some may even present with a fixed flexion deformity of the IPJ where no extension is possible.

People with CTS experience numbness, tingling, or burning sensations in the thumb and fingers, in particular the index and middle fingers and radial half of the ring finger, because these receive their sensory and motor function (muscle control) from the median nerve. Ache and discomfort can possibly be felt more proximally in the forearm or even the upper arm. Less-specific symptoms may include pain in the wrists or hands, loss of grip strength, and loss of manual dexterity.

Some suggest that median nerve symptoms can arise from compression at the level of the thoracic outlet or the area where the median nerve passes between the two heads of the pronator teres in the forearm, although this is debated.

Numbness and paresthesias in the median nerve distribution are the hallmark neuropathic symptoms (NS) of carpal tunnel entrapment syndrome. Weakness and atrophy of the thumb muscles may occur if the condition remains untreated, because the muscles are not receiving sufficient nerve stimulation. Discomfort is usually worse at night and in the morning.

Nintendo thumb, also known as gamer's grip, Nintendonitis and similar names, is a video game-related health problem classified as a form of repetitive strain injury (RSI). The symptoms are the blistering, paraesthesia and swelling of the thumbs, mainly through use of the D-pad, though any finger can be affected. This can lead to stress on tendons, nerves and ligaments in the hands, and further onto lateral epicondylitis ("tennis elbow"), tendinitis, bursitis and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).

Some of the symptoms are described under trigger finger.

Originally known in a video gaming context as "Leather Thumb", this condition was known to occur frequently among users of 2nd generation video game consoles such as the Intellivision or the Atari 2600 in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The condition was first highlighted when the Nintendo games consoles were released, leading to reported cases of RSI, primarily in children (being one of the primary audiences of early-generation videogames). Later, the controllers for the Sony PlayStation and PlayStation 2 were noted as causing the condition. However, due to the shape, size and extended use of game controllers it is not limited to just those specific ones and can occur in users of any gamepad or joystick. Similar problems have also been observed with the use of mobile phones, and text messaging in particular (see Blackberry thumb).

Intersection syndrome is a painful condition that affects the lateral side of the forearm when inflammation occurs at the intersection of the muscle bellies of the abductor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis brevis cross over the extensor carpi radialis longus and the extensor carpi radialis brevis. These 1st and 2nd dorsal muscle compartments intersect at this location, hence the name. The mechanism of injury is usually repetitive resisted extension, as with rowing, weight lifting, or pulling.

Intersection syndrome is often confused with another condition called DeQuervain's syndrome, which is an irritation of the thumb-sided set of tendons at the wrist, called the first dorsal compartment.

Most patients experience poorly localised pain in the forearm. The pain is sometimes referred into the cubital fossa and elbow pain has been reported as being a primary complaint.⁠

The characteristic impairment of the pincer movement of the thumb and index finger is most striking.

Pain and soft-tissue swelling are present at the distal-third radial fracture site and at the wrist joint. This injury is confirmed on radiographic evaluation. Forearm trauma may be associated with compartment syndrome. Anterior interosseous nerve (AIN) palsy may also be present, but it is easily missed because there is no sensory component to this finding. A purely motor nerve, the AIN is a division of the median nerve. Injury to the AIN can cause paralysis of the flexor pollicis longus and flexor digitorum profundus muscles to the index finger, resulting in loss of the pinch mechanism between the thumb and index finger. Galeazzi fractures are sometimes associated with wrist drop due to injury to radial nerve, extensor tendons or muscles.

Bennett fracture is a fracture of the base of the first metacarpal bone which extends into the carpometacarpal (CMC) joint. This intra-articular fracture is the most common type of fracture of the thumb, and is nearly always accompanied by some degree of subluxation or frank dislocation of the carpometacarpal joint.