It is normal to experience severe pain right after you break your thumb. The pain happens because your bones have nerves surrounding them. When a bone breaks, it can irritate or compress the surrounding nerves, which causes pain. If you don’t experience severe pain right after the injury, there is a chance that your thumb is not broken.  You will also experience severe pain if something touches your thumb or when you try to bend it. Generally, the closer the pain is to the joint where your thumb meets the rest of your hand (closest to the webbing between your thumb and forefinger), the more cause for concern and potential complication for the injury. You should look to see if your thumb looks normal. Is it bent at an odd angle or twisted in some strange way? You should also check to see if there is any bone protruding out of the skin. If you notice any of these characteristics, it is very likely that you have broken your thumb. Your thumb will also most likely have bruises on it, which is a sign that the capillaries in the tissue of the thumb have broken open. If you have broken your thumb, moving it will cause you serious and severe pain. Your ligaments connecting your bones will also most likely be unable to function properly, which can also make it difficult to move your thumb. In particular, check to see if you can move your thumb backwards. If you can move it backwards without pain, you probably have a sprain rather than a broken bone. Aside from causing pain, compressed nerves can also make your thumb go numb. Your thumb might also begin to feel cold. This is because a fractured bone or a lot of swelling can block the blood vessels that carry blood into your thumb and surrounding tissue. Your thumb might also turn blue if it is receiving very little or no blood. When you break a bone, the area around it will swell up due to inflammation. Your thumb will begin to swell five to ten minutes after the injury has occurred. After the thumb swells, it may begin to stiffen. The swelling in your thumb might also affect the closest fingers to your thumb.
لاحظ وجود ألم شديد في الإبهام. لاحظ وجود أي تشوّهات في موقع الإصابة. حاول تحريك إبهامك. انتبه للخدر والبرودة التي تشعر بها في إبهامك. تفقّد وجود أي تورّم حول الإبهام.