About two months ago I started with trigger finger
in my right second (middle) finger. Only occasionally,
and easy to get to straighten at that time.

With time, though, it was straightenable by my own
muscular impetus, but quite painful. Straightenable
by input from the other hand, but still somewhat painful.
This condition got worse over a period of weeks.

I asked my primary physician about it, and asked if I
should go to a hand specialist, or could he help?
He told me to go to the hand specialist, and I
made an appointment with Indiana Hand to Shoulder,
an office which is near my home. I was assigned to a
Dr. Baltera, and given a next-day appointment.

I Googled Dr. Baltera, and learned, among other things,
that he is a (something like) fifty-five year old Professor
of Hand Surgery with Indiana University. Also other
qualifications and certifications, which helped with my
outlook on this.

Showed up and registered. Before I could get all the paperwork
filled out, a young doctor (whose name I didn't get, so I think
of him as Dr. X) came into the examination room and interviewed me. He pressed and manipulated my hand, and that finger in particular, none of which caused any pain. He left, and I finished
the paperwork.

Dr. Baltera,having presumably been briefed by Dr. X, came in,
and went over the same subjects as Dr. X. His manipulations,
while approximately the same as what Dr. X did, did in a
few of the maneuevrs cause some momentary pain.

He told me about what goes on in Trigger Finger, and told me that
the two routes I could go were:
(a)local anesthetic injection, and after some time for that
to do its job, a cortisone injection in the palmar surface of the hand;
   (or, alternatively,)
(b) surgery, again in the palmar surface. He showed me line illustrations of how the surgery is done, and gave me to understand that this is quick and comparatively simple surgery.
   Dr. Baltera did not discuss physical therapy.

   With the injection route, he told me that I MIGHT have some
soreness in the hand (didn't, as it turned out), but the pain should clear up within 24 hours, with appreciable relief of the condition in that time, and commonly the full effect of the injection over a period of a few weeks. Possibly, I might want to come back in 30 days for a second cortisone injection.

    With surgery, the healing process takes longer, of course, and although it's a pretty minimal operation. A paragraph from the brochure I was given was as follows:
    In cases where a patient has chronic symptoms or a completely locked, painful and immovable digit, surgery may be recommended in lieu of non-operative measures.
    Surgery is performed to enlarge the tendon sheath at its leading edge, which allows the tendon to again glide without locking or catching. A small incision is made in the palm in line with the affected digit. (There was a line illustration here.) Once the tendon sheath has been enlarged, the patient is often asked to move their finger to confirm that triggering no longer exists.
    A comment was made in the brochure, under Surgery, that "Recurrences of triggering are quite rare."

    I chose the injection route. No palmar soreness. In 24 hours,
the triggering was noticeably alleviated. Now, four days after
injection, the triggering is very largely but not entirely overcome, and still improving.

This post is long, I know, but I think it is more informative than the various previous posts above.

Dave Oesterreich