What causes finger pain?

Finger pain has a wide range of causes and symptoms from arthritis to Raynaud's phenomenon.

The most common injuries are soft tissue damage caused by a trauma. This is common in sports like rugby and martial arts and is usually caused by fingers being bent backwards or sideways. The excessive bending causes minor tears in the tendons or ligaments in the finger.

Without a specific trauma, finger pain is most commonly caused by osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis in the hand occurs when the protective cartilage between the bones wears away from repeated injury or overuse. It usually occurs at the base of the thumb, where the thumb joins the wrist or the middle joint or tip of a finger. It usually characterises itself as joint pain, stiffness, swelling and sometimes a lack of mobility.