Something New Every Day

I learned something new today!  Well, not today, but yesterday.  It turns out there's a pretty simple procedure used to diagnose DeQuervain's tenosynovitis called Finklestein's Test.

If you're like me - that is, a World of Warcraft player - you're probably now thinking of the somewhat deranged, definitely bizarre Forsaken alchemist named Finkelstein that resides in Zul'Drak.

Yeah, this guy here:

Charming, isn't he?

Keep that image in mind.

Finklestein's test is pretty simple.  Take your hand, and hold it perpendicular to the floor, thumb up.  Have someone (like your doctor) grasp your thumb and bend your hand down towards the floor. If you're healthy, then this test - coupled with the standard query, "Tell me if you feel anything" - is likely to elicit the response, "Um.  No.  What are you doing?"

On the other hand, if you've managed to royally muck up the tendons that control your thumb, the query/response protocol is much more likely to be something like:

Doctor: Now, tell me if you feel anyth...

Moi: YEOWWWWWWWWWW OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH!

While I only have a sample size of 1, based on my experiences, I'm going to say that the above response is accompanied by a 99.9% chance of spontaneous levitation as the flood of pain signals to the brain cause immediate thoughts along the line of STRAIGHTEN OUT THAT WRIST! NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW! THE PAIN THE PAIN IT BURNS OUCH OUCH OUCH STRAIGHTEN OUT THAT WRIST NOW!

So, you see, I have absolutely no problem imagining that alchemist Finklestein had a hand in the creation of this test.  In fact, once my eyes uncrossed and stopped watering, I even found it mildly amusing.

Oh, one more thing - another term for DeQuervain's tenosynovitis is "gamer's thumb". Which is pretty ironic, since (a) I've had it for a couple of weeks now, during which my gaming time has been limited, and (b) one of the few times during the day that  my thumb doesn't hurt is when I'm playing Diablo III on my laptop.  Probably because I'm actually resting it on the trackpad at that point, instead of waving it around like... like... some digit or something.

Meh.  Time to dig up a spica splint, apparently.