UKC

Bit of a weird one, that I'm having trouble diagnosing. 

So a few weeks ago, my left middle finger just became really stiff. There was no real moment of obvious injury or anything. I was trying pretty hard at bouldering indoors for a few weeks, but no harder than usual I don't think. 

Now my middle finger is really stiff, and range of motion when closing it is slightly more limited than the one on my other hand. When I curl my middle finger in and then push a bit more, I feel tightness and pain in the OUTSIDE of the second joint of the finger. 

Also it seems linked to the, er... Last bit of the finger? The bit with the nail on. If I keep that straight it's all gravy. I can bend the finger as much as I like, no pain and stiffness. It's when I bend that last segment of the finger, that the pain happens in the next join down. Not the joint the last segment of finger is attached to.

There's no swelling. 

I took a couple weeks off, the pain went away, and stiffness subsided a bit.  

It's instantly back now after one session of bouldering. 

There's no real pain when climbing. Just when I close my hand, there's an obvious stiffness there and limited range of motion in that one finger. 

It is actually similar to an issue the doctors failed to diagnose in my big toe.. Also on my left, potentially coincidentally. 

Basically I cant bend my big toe on my left foot anymore. Not at the main joint, but at the second joint. Had an xray and they told me everything was fine and kinda ended it there. Apparently obviously not being able to bend it, is fine as long as the xray shows nothing? They said cartilage looked fine. 

I'm a bit worried this will progress similarly in my finger. The big toe not bending is kinda annoying for climbing, but otherwise doesn't matter. 

My left middle finger not bending would be a much bigger issue. 

I'm 34 btw, so arthritis has crossed my mind. But then I thought that's what the toe was but the xray came back all good. 

So yeah, anyone else had this? 

I would have a google around 'finger extensor hoods' and 'lateral bands'. If you have been doing extensor exercises they can get mighty sore. Only a bit of a guess and something you probably haven't thought of. 

This was very useful, as those terms got me a proper diagram of a hand up.  Thank you!

I am thinking I might have a central slip injury, from what I am reading and where my injury is. Which is very annoying, because I have potentially been doing the absolute worst thing to try and fix it, if it is. 

You're meant to splint it, I have been bending it and stretching it down towards my palm. 

I think the injury is minor, though. I am not sure it needs splinting. 

Seems more like overuse, potentially. So I will rest it fully for a few weeks, and then see where I'm at. 

I had a big problem with one of these, can't remember what exactly. But it settled down completely of its own accord. Good luck.