How to tell if your thumb is broken or sprained

You will know if you sprained your thumb if it gets bent back and then hurts afterwards. A thumb sprain happens when the ligaments at the base of the thumb get stretched or partially torn. Most of the time your thumb will hurt after you sprain it if you move it all the way out and in, or put weight on it.  It can be hard to differentiate between a torn ligament in your thumb and just a sprained thumb. Normally a torn ligament will hurt more than a sprain, but the level of pain depends on the injury and the person who sustained it. The best way to determine if you tore a ligament in your thumb is to see a hand surgeon, who can test the injured ligament to see if it has torn all of the way. They will usually also get x-rays to make sure that you didn’t break your thumb also. The most common torn ligament in the thumb is the ulnar collateral ligament at the base of the thumb.