# Dislocated finger



## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

Out for a ride in Moab last weekend and take a very mild fall. Put my hand down and this happens.









I tried to reset it on the trail, but having no experience, I didn't know how hard to pull to get it back into position. After two tries, figured I'd better have a professional do it.










It turns out you have to pull pretty hard to get that sucker back into position.

I'm now another yellow pin on the "injury board" at the Moab Urgent care facility.
Can you pick out TWE?


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## Finch Platte (Nov 14, 2003)

Great googly moogly!


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## Sparticus (Dec 28, 1999)

Nice! Hope it didn't hurt too much.
What do the lavender pins mean?
=sParty


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

I think the lavender pins were motorized injuries. There was a color associated with base jumping as well. It didn't hurt a whole lot until I started trying to fix it...then it hurt a bunch!
Now it hurts enough that I can't go skiing.
After the doc reset it, I taped it up, took 4 advil and got in a Hymasa climb, but bailed where it hooks into Ahab as it was getting pretty sore.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

thanks. I hate it.


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## Blatant (Apr 13, 2005)

Exact same injury years ago. I was too scared to take my glove off to try and reset it and my buddy was having none of that action. Had to ride 7 miles back to the car and then to the ER. Pain wasn’t too bad after it was reset.


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

Blatant said:


> Exact same injury years ago. I was too scared to take my glove off to try and reset it and my buddy was having none of that action. Had to ride 7 miles back to the car and then to the ER. Pain wasn't too bad after it was reset.


Yeah, it was immediate relief until the next day. I think that's probably typical. After I tried twice, I was concerned there might be more to it than a simple dislocation so I gave up.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

I dislocated my distal interphalangeal climbing at Indian Creek years back. I had no choice but to set it there and then as I needed it's use to get me (and my climbing partner) off the rock. Those moments are interesting as you take stock, understand what needs to happen and do it.

I did it slowly and methodically in one constant motion while dangling from my harness after a fall. It was rather intuitive really, once the knuckles cleared each other they slid right home. All the while my belay partner was wandering what the hell was taking so long, joy.

I ended up needing FDP tendon surgery from the injury as it fully detached putting on my shoe 3 days later. That was a world of suck. Especially for a van rat with no insurance.

On the subject of fun pics and hand injuries here's one from another Moab climbing mishap. First day of a 10 day vacation. Admittedly a stupid mistake. The kind that has you taking stock in your mortality. 

















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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

WHALENARD said:


> I dislocated my distal interphalangeal climbing at Indian Creek years back. I had no choice but to set it there and then as I needed it's use to get me (and my climbing partner) off the rock. Those moments are interesting as you take stock, understand what needs to happen and do it.
> 
> I did it slowly and methodically in one constant motion while dangling from my harness after a fall. It was rather intuitive really, once the knuckles cleared each other they slid right home. All the while my belay partner was wandering what the hell was taking so long, joy.
> 
> ...


Ow!
For some reason I just had a flashback on "not wanting to see that sort of thing".
Early on in my naval career, I had a midair with another A-4 where we both ejected and his helmet and facemask were torn off (he hit me, BTW!). After landing, I ran over to his inert body to check him out. He was lying down facing away from me. I got about 20 feet away and thought, "man I wonder if his face was torn off"? So, I circled around to look at his face from a distance to avoid the horror show of, "pull the guy over and see hamburger". He was intact, so I got him somewhat stabilized before the helicopter got there. Funny, what you think of in those sorts of situations!


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## chazpat (Sep 23, 2006)

I dislocated a pinky a few years ago playing basketball. I easily popped it back into place but then later, I noticed it was turning red and did some googling and went to the ER. It took a surprisingly long time to heal 100%. I taped it to its neighbor for awhile. It was "stiff" for a long time. I would ride with my pinky sticking out like I was trying to be upper crust or something.


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## WHALENARD (Feb 21, 2010)

MSU Alum said:


> Ow!
> For some reason I just had a flashback on "not wanting to see that sort of thing".
> Early on in my naval career, I had a midair with another A-4 where we both ejected and his helmet and facemask were torn off (he hit me, BTW!). After landing, I ran over to his inert body to check him out. He was lying down facing away from me. I got about 20 feet away and thought, "man I wonder if his face was torn off"? So, I circled around to look at his face from a distance to avoid the horror show of, "pull the guy over and see hamburger". He was intact, so I got him somewhat stabilized before the helicopter got there. Funny, what you think of in those sorts of situations!


Dang! That sounds intense! You have lived some life, MSU Alum.

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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

WHALENARD said:


> Dang! That sounds intense! You have lived some life, MSU Alum.
> 
> Sent from my moto g(6) forge using Tapatalk


You finger looked worse!


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

MSU Alum said:


> You finger looked worse!


you think ? it looked like Truck Stop Sausage ffs


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## ExhaustedDog (Jan 5, 2021)

Riding Oats Peak in 2019, just after climbing to the top I went OTB and dislocated my index finger. My first thought was, _like hell_, after all that climbing, _I earned these turns_.

Popped the sucker back into place and rode down on adrenaline.


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

127.0.0.1 said:


> you think ? it looked like Truck Stop Sausage ffs


Plus my accident was lame...it was a small step up from falling off the toilet and hurting my finger on the towel rack. But, it did look funny.


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## 127.0.0.1 (Nov 19, 2013)

I did the same to my finger crashing on a pump track, top knuckle. yanked it back into place but wow was it stiff for about 2 months afterward. do not want


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## JKA (Jul 26, 2006)

I had an open dislocation of a finger (bone tore through the tissue and was sticking out) after getting off my dirt bike a bit awkwardly at about 70 mph. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a non-awkward get off at that speed, but I digress. I had gloves on and the finger was bent at 90 degrees, pulled the gloves off and thought about just riding back with it like that, but it was still 10- 15 miles back to the truck. Pulled on the finger pretty hard and got it straightened out, Gloves back on and ride back. It was my right hand so the throttle was a bit painful and every bump was a knife to the finger. Went to my doc when I got home and he looked at it, x-rayed it and said he couldn't have done a better job reducing it himself. He put a splint on it, gave me some antibiotics for 10 days and said it'll freeze the joint and I'll never have any movement in it again. As soon as I could move it, I started really working it and now it's perfect. Nice little scar, but full movement. That was 35 years ago and still fine now with not even any arthritis in it. The body is pretty amazing in healing itself as long as we don't really screw it up.


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## diamondback1x9 (Dec 21, 2020)

MSU Alum said:


> Plus my accident was lame...it was a small step up from falling off the toilet and hurting my finger on the towel rack. But, it did look funny.


were you the dude on the latest friday fails? you know, the one where the dude when otb at zero mph?


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## wschruba (Apr 13, 2012)

I dislocated a pinky 2 years ago, or so. Luckily(?) I have pretty stretched ligaments from playing the piano for 20-something years, so a steady tug and it popped back into place. Taped it up, and was good to go after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, about a week later, I smacked the same hand on a rock in a freak dismount (think palming a baseball). The fingers are still puffy compared to the other hand, two years on.

The 'taking stock' bit post crash was interesting, especially since it didn't hurt at first. It was a big enough hit that I laid there for a second breathing, then checked big stuff: ankles, knees, shoulder, neck, then tried to flex my hands into fists and noticed the one finger wouldn't really move. I didn't see anything wrong until then, since both pinkies have a 5-10 degree cant at the proximal joint. I gave it a pull out, and it slid back into place with a pop (which I'm sure was felt much more than heard, but adrenaline does weird things to the body).

I took the glove off, just in case...and a good thing, too. After ~5 minutes, it started throbbing, at 10, the dislocated area was swollen to about twice the size. By the time I got back to the trailhead/car at 15 minutes, I couldn't really flex it without help, again. That is, I could slowly--ever so slowly--curl the finger and release it, and otherwise had the full range of motion, but it was clearly injured. Braking on the way back was interesting, since every time I shifted my index finger, it pulled on the ligaments in the wrist, and sent stars swimming in my vision.


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## MCHB (Jun 23, 2014)

Sweet Baby Jeebus! 😲


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

diamondback1x9 said:


> were you the dude on the latest friday fails? you know, the one where the dude when otb at zero mph?


I didn't see that, but my fall was much less spectacular, based on your description!


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## JKA (Jul 26, 2006)

Sometimes the slow speed falls can be just as bad as at speed. A friend of mine (he's now an orthopedic surgeon) was riding up to the hospital (without a helmet) during residency and when he was about to get off his bike going maybe 2mph, his gym bag got caught between the tire and the fork. Launched him right over the bars. Landed on his dome and quickly jumped up to make sure no one saw him. He didn't think anything of it, but when he went in the hospital and got in the elevator with one of his attendings, he started to slur his speech and then the speech worsened. He got a CT scan and had a skull fracture right over the posterior meniingial artery. They admitted him to the neuro unit and he got to spend a night in the cabbage patch. He was fine with no intracranial hemorrhage, but had a pretty sore noggin for a while. Could have been way worse. He wears a helmet every time on the bike now. Beware of the slow speed crash.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

How is your hand /finger now MSU Alum?


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## MSU Alum (Aug 8, 2009)

cyclelicious said:


> How is your hand /finger now MSU Alum?


It's getting better. I can now ski, but can't make a complete fist, just a bit stiff. Thanks, I think another 3 or 4 days and it'll be as good as new, but I guess I'll have to be a bit careful to avoid it happening again for a while.


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## Fleas (Jan 19, 2006)

Oh man...that's one of those things where you're afraid to remove your glove because you know it won't look right.
I dislocated a finger when I fell in a rock garden. It was rocky enough that I never actually touched the ground - just all the irregluarly-shaped rocks. When I got up I knew my finger was messed up. Removing the glove revealed my knuckle in a stair step shape. The same knuckle that had been jammed and kicked repeatedly when I played goalie on my HS soccer team. It would not go back how it belonged until I did some relaxation breathing, relaxed my arm/shoulder/back. Then I grabbed on the flat top of a wooden sign post and gently pulled and it slid right back. That knuckle still locks up sometimes, plus it bends backwards more than most.

I'm glad everyone's digits are getting back to normal.

-F


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## chrisdabiker (Jun 14, 2006)

Old thread but I'll throw in my experience, pinky was bent backwards 90 degrees at second joint, always heard you had to PULL the thing straight which kinda makes sense but after pulling HARD it wouldn't budge. Couldn't stand seeing the thing so I simply bent it back the way it was supposed to go and "pop" it was back in place. A little bruising/bluish colors but it was all normal in a couple weeks and no problems since.
On a side note, there were hospital visits for pinky breakages in the following years, but not related to this dislocation. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay for a pro.


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## rod9301 (Oct 30, 2004)

I dislocated my thumb a couple of years ago.
Coming down a step trail, with a10 ft drop on rocks.

Right above the paved bike trail, and i was looking at this girl below me.
In tights.

Anyway, the thumb was bent backwards, i just bent it back to it was straight. No pain, but it made an awful crunchy noise.
Possibly there was a small bone chip, so i used a splint for a few weeks, which didn't stop me from mountain biking.



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## chazpat (Sep 23, 2006)

rod9301 said:


> I dislocated my thumb a couple of years ago.
> Coming down a step trail, with a10 ft drop on rocks.
> 
> Right above the paved bike trail, and i was looking at this girl below me.
> ...


Was she impressed?


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