Trigger finger

A condition in which a finger or thumb catches, clicks or locks as it bends, because the flexor tendon no longer glides freely through the thickened first (A1) pulley at the base of the digit. Common in people in their fifties and sixties and in people with diabetes.

Related terms

• Anatomy

  A1 pulley

  The first of the fibrous bands (pulleys) that hold the flexor tendons against the finger bones, lying at the base of the finger over the metacarpophalangeal joint. It is the band that thickens in trigger finger and is divided in a trigger finger release; the A2 and A4 pulleys are the ones that must be preserved.

• Condition

  Stenosing tenosynovitis

  The medical name for trigger finger: narrowing of the flexor tendon tunnel at the A1 pulley so that the tendon catches. Despite the name, histology shows little inflammation; the pulley undergoes fibrocartilaginous change. The same term is used for De Quervain's tenosynovitis at the wrist.

Articles mentioning this term

1. FESSH preparation · 26 September 2026

   Clinical examination of the hand and wrist

   Hand and wrist examination for FESSH candidates: how accurate the Phalen, Tinel, scratch collapse, Elson, Watson, grind, fovea and Allen tests really are.

2. Patient information · 26 September 2026

   Trigger finger

   Why a finger catches or locks, who gets trigger finger, and how it is treated: splints, steroid injections and a small day-case operation.

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