I do theatre work as a hobby. During a recent rehearsal, I was supposed to be dragging a character across the stage. Of course, one is not trying to hurt the other person, so I maintained a relatively loose grip on her wrist, largely using my thumb and forefinger to guide her and follow her movement. Unfortunately, this time she decided to add some extra mustard to her struggles and something happened to my thumb. I'm not certain if it got twisted off to one side or if I took too much pressure at the web of the juncture, but it hurts when I move it too much, and I've got mild weakness at the extent of movement. Possibly relevant, the tendon that runs along the back base of the thumb is slightly pronounced right now.
So, my question is, are there any tricks to recovery from an injury like this? I don't think I've broken anything, but it is a nuisance. I've been trying to keep moving it so that I don't have to worry about it stiffening up. On a side note, are there some good tips for preventing this in the future other than asking my fellow thespian to tone down the thrashing? In an actual combat situation, I probably would have applied more pressure, pushing the ulna and radius together, but again, I was trying not to cause pain.