UKC

Hi all,

Has anyone here suffered from a hyperextended finger injury? (Basically bending your finger back so far that something is damaged!)
I've had very little luck searching for ways to treat this/help the healing process myself.

So I fell whilst fell running! Bent my ring finger way back. It was pretty sore immediately and was swollen for a few days. After that it seemed ok, just a bit painful on slopers and if I stretched in any way. After about a fortnight I went on a two week sport climbing trip and I hardly noticed it.
Then after maybe 4 weeks off I go bouldering indoors and its a game stopper. So painful as soon as I try anything above V3.

Does anyone have any resources/or personal experience to share... I have no idea how to buddy tape it properly or if I should even do that etc.
Most websites say it should be completely healed after 6 weeks but its worse now after about 8.

Thanks

In reply to AymanC:

Well if its still hurting after 8 weeks I think you can safely assume that either bone, ligament or tendon is damaged, so go see a doctor!

In the case of ligaments or tendons, they have amazingly slow blood flow and take a very long time to heal and build up to their old strength (if they ever do)

good luck

In reply to AymanC:

I did the same to my ring finger mountain biking - fell on some wet boardwalk, kept sliding along, ring finger went down gap between the boards and I carried on. Very similar first few weeks to yours by the sounds of it, although if was trying to ride with it rather than climb.

I did g it x-rayed in the end, just to be sure, and I did strap it for riding a bit (just simple support above and below the joint), but essentially it's a long slow recovery. I found it got very sore if it got cold and stiffened up easily - very annoying for riding and skiing. Had to change to 1-finger braking on that hand as ring and pinky were secure enough. Usually it was just a case of keeping it warm and mobile as much as possible - wore glove and mitt on that hand skiing that year. I can imagine bouldering making it very sore.

Full range of movement in a year, could fit my wedding ring back over the knuckle after two years ;-/

In reply to AymanC:

Sounds like a volar plate injury to me. The VP is the structure that limits hyperextension at the PIP and MCP joints.

Treat it like any ligament injury; active range of movement exercises from the start progressing to passive ROM exercises as pain allows. Do the exercises once an hour through the day.

Buddy tape as you get back into climbing; firm strapping to the next finger to limit end of range movement but not restrict blood supply. Stick to easy climbing to start with.

Hope that helps. A specialist hand physio can tell you more if you want more advice.

In reply to AymanC:

Thanks a lot for the replies everyone.

I seem to have full range of movement. I'll look into the exercises though.
Can anyone recommend a hand specialist in the southeast??

In reply to AymanC:

I would go to a doctor Sooner than later - I had the same one my thumb, stupidly went to pharmacy instead (was on a mountain and was the only place I could find) and they gave me the wrong support and as a result needed an op. If ligaments are torn you need to be careful not to keep them in the wrong position when they heal because then can either heal 'too long' and not be effective or not heal at all.

In my case it kept on being dislocated after it 'healed', so just because pain/swelling goes away it doesn't mean it has healed properly. So putting it in the right position ASAP could be important sometimes