# Fell on my finger



## ihaveagibsonsg (Nov 29, 2010)

I fell about a month ago and sprained my middle finger on my right hand at the knuckle joint. I didn't bother going to the doctor because my insurance is horrendous. It was stiff for the first week but I could move it quite a bit so I knew it wasn't dislocated or broken. I took it out of the splint and have been riding on it ever since but the knuckle is still fat and a little tender. It seems to be getting better every day. I've heard that the knuckle could stay fat permanently, anyone have any experience with this?


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## starry (Jun 9, 2009)

i crashed and went down on my finger and did the same thing....didn't go in - i could move it some, so figured it was badly sprained. It just kept staying bloated and swollen for like a month. Finally went in, and it was actually fractured - a chip fracture where some bone chips away and is floating. An avulsion fracture. That might be what you have. All they did is buddy tape it. I crashed in November, and it's STILL all fat and ugly. I'm thinking that i'm probably looking at that condition for good now...can't completely bend it, and make a full, strong fist. Thems the breaks i guess.

i should be doing PT on it, but...i'm not. Can ride fine with it.


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## ihaveagibsonsg (Nov 29, 2010)

That sounds like a possibility except I can make a full strong fist. I started wearing the splint again and it magically feels a lot better every day now. It seems to have lost a really minor amount of maneuverability but nothing that will prohibit me from doing anything I used to do just as well.


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## SS Adam (Apr 1, 2012)

went down today hand went to the wet ground, right ring finger bent sideways behind the other fingers, even past the pointer finger, knuckle out of socket, had to reef it back straight again and walk back to the car, Theraputic peas and some aleve not feeling too bad but tender, somewhat swollen and turning a little black and blue, ouch!


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## ihaveagibsonsg (Nov 29, 2010)

SS Adam said:


> went down today hand went to the wet ground, right ring finger bent sideways behind the other fingers, even past the pointer finger, knuckle out of socket, had to reef it back straight again and walk back to the car, Theraputic peas and some aleve not feeling too bad but tender, somewhat swollen and turning a little black and blue, ouch!


Sounds like you should see a doctor. This one sounds worse than mine. I've been reading up on google and I guess it can take up to 18 months for a sprain to fully heal in a finger to the point where there's 0 pain.


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## chippedgti (Apr 4, 2012)

sorry man def go to doctor


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## starry (Jun 9, 2009)

yeah, you could have that weird chip fracture i had/have. i agree on recovery time - it's been 5 months and my finger is still freaking messed up. I'll be lucky if after 18 months it's somewhat back to normal.


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## SS Adam (Apr 1, 2012)

Finger has started to heal, seen my chiropractor 2 since it has happened, swelling down some, but still tender, probably try and get a run in tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday maybe a ride, but probably road, not on the SS mt bike.


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## ihaveagibsonsg (Nov 29, 2010)

Just thought I'd bounce back in here and say my finger is about 90% healed now. What has really been helping is I will bend it to the point of discomfort and hold it there with my other hand for a few seconds then release it and massage it out. Repeat this process. The knuckle is still fat but at least the pain is gone for the most part. It took about 3 months to get it his far so I'd imagine in 6 I'll be 100% better again if I keep working at it.


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## ArmySlowRdr (Dec 19, 2003)

I have one knuckle of which the finger took the full force of a basketball in 11th grade..33 years later, I still cannot crack that knuckle.


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## ihaveagibsonsg (Nov 29, 2010)

Oddly I cannot crack the knuckle like all my other ones but if I continually twist it side to side it will eventually crack.


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## Hardluckhero (Jun 4, 2010)

I had the bike slide out from under me a week ago, when I sat up and looked at my hand my right middle finger was bent sideways towards my pinkie finger, knuckle out of socket, I pulled it back straight again and rode back to my truck. Stopped at a convenient store for a cup of ice, stuck my finger in it on the way home, cleaned up and went to urgent care. They saw the floating bone fragments and said to see an ortho dr.
Saw ortho dr 2 days later, he said no surgery needed. He took of my splint, buddy taped it to my pointer. and told me to start bending it to work on range of motion. He said the bone chips are from the ligaments pulling away from the bone. Didn’t really give me a time frame for healing but said the knuckle will remain fatter than normal.


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## wahday (Mar 23, 2012)

I injured my pinky about 2 months ago and, while its healing (slowly), it still hurts when I hit it the wrong way. It was a ridiculous injury, too. I was stopped and getting something out of my pack. I dropped it and reached out to grab it on its way down and jammed the finger up against my headset. Der! But it hurt like a b!tch!

The thing about finger and toe injuries is that one often keeps re-injuring them just as you go through the day. This makes healing take a longer time because you are re-injuring it all the time. There is no easy way to put a cast on a broken finger, so usually they are splinted. I might recommend splinting it yourself for a week to promote healing (tongue depressors work well if you can get your hands on some). Or, another in-the-field trick is to tape it to an adjacent finger. That keeps you from bending it too far and the other finger acts as a splint. When I broke my toe as a teenager, the doctor simply taped it to the neighboring toe and said “be careful and it will heal.” And so it did.

You might also consider some Arnica pills (you put them under your tongue and they dissolve) to address swelling. Its very effective and not a bad thing to have in your first aid kit for any bumps and bruises. Also comes in a cream/ointment. Great for kids - its derived from a plant and has been widely used by doctors and households in Europe for centuries.


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## Daniel Soh (Jul 13, 2011)

I dId a 4 ft jump last year that ended with me endoing over the bar and landed on my fIngers. Thought it was a sprain at first but three days later when the pain didn't subside, I went to the hospital and the Orthopedic did an X-ray and found out that I had torn my ligament. 

Better have that seen too.


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## hani1 (Sep 12, 2008)

Going to go the see hand specialist tomorrow for and avulsion fracture of the pinky that happened 3 weeks ago. I road the rest of the day of the crash and the next day and 2-3 days a week since, but the finger is far from normal. Hoping the doc can give me a MTB friendly splint


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## Mudinyeri (Jul 31, 2012)

Sounds familiar. I was on a trip in Colorado with some friends and stopped to point out some deer near the trail. I was so focused on the deer that I toppled over and jammed my left pinky into the ground. It was a little sore but I didn't pay it much attention until later that night. The tip was bent inward but it didn't swell much. Some ice and a couple beers were ordered for treatment. It's still crooked today - several years later.

Stuff like that just adds character.


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## GarlicDude (Aug 15, 2012)

A couple of years back I was playing some b-ball, I jammed my right index finger incredibly hard against a flying basketball while it was coming towards me. I was unable to really use it and the range of motion was pretty low. It took close to a year but I was finally able to work it out by manually stretching it like another poster mentioned. This past weekend I screwed up my right index again when I tossed a 20lb or so anchor and chain over bored. :madman:Yup, my finger was in between the chain or gap in anchor. I started stretching it right away and it feels okay.


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## vivitiger (Aug 28, 2012)

TOO BAD regret


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