UKC

Heard a loud 'pop' whilst holding onto two-finger pocket. Was not overly straining nor were the fingers loaded suddenly due to feet slipping etc. I assumed I had potentially ruptured a pulley and abbed off the climb.

Wandered into minor injury clinic today upon and have discovered that I have actually fractured the finger, apparently the pulley did not give way but actually pulled the bone away/caused a fracture.

Has anybody had or heard of this type of injury before and have any advice on recovery process?

Cheers,

Rich

In reply to richenson: Wow, no not heard of that before, sounds preferable to a ruptured pulley though, crazy as that may sound.

Weird - there was a post here suggesting it might've been a volar plate avulsion, but the post's now gone... Volar plate avulsions usually happen when one of your finger joints is forcibly hyperextended (i.e. bent backwards) suddenly - the goalkeeping example is classic. That's not likely to have happened in the OP's case because the finger was flexed (bent) when it happened.

The pulley is attached onto bone at either side, and it's quite possible for a small flake of bone at the attachment site to get pulled off the rest of the bone if the pulley is loaded suddenly. Basically you'll need to treat it like a pulley injury, but it is possible that it will heal faster than if the pulley itself had ruptured, as bone has a better blood supply. That's kind of speculative though, and you really need to make sure it's healed properly before you go pulling on anything again! You've only got one chance to let it heal without complications.

Have you got a follow-up appointment?

Pete.

In reply to richenson:
I did something which sounds fairly similar a few years ago. I was playing in goal and had the ball strike the end of my finger shearing off a chunk of bone. Did they diagnose it as a Volar Plate Avulsion?

I eventually got round to going to A&E after my finger doubled in size and I couldn't move it which took about 24 hours
Chatting with thee nurse I say I think I dislocated it and she gives it an exploratory bend to check, which caused it to bend in a few odd ways then sends me for x-ray.
A little while later a Doctor come over to discuss the X-ray and asks all the normal questions "which finger was it etc" and then asks me to run through what tests had been done. He went a tiny bit green when I started repeating the bends the nurse had done and told me I'd broken it.
From the X-ray it looked like I'd sheared off about 1/3 of the joint adjacent to the middle joint of the ring finger on my right hand.
The Doctor told me I was lucky I hadn't sheared the tendon and that I'd probably be fine in a few weeks, it definitely wasn't ok when I sat my university finals 5 days later
It healed up fairly quickly even with my lame attempts at resting it but I still get a bit of trouble with the joint as it doesn't feel smooth. Unless you took a huge chunk out I doubt you'll have much trouble.

In reply to PeteH:
Sorry, modifying the post with a bit more detail

In reply to PeteH:

That disappearing post was a bit weird. Diagnosis is 'Avultion fracture @ middle phalanx at PIPJ. Non-displaced' They tested for ligament, tendon and pulley damage (by bending the fingers this way and that) and found no evidence.

Don't really understand mechanics of injury (can soft tissue really pull away bone?) though I suspect maybe it had built up over a couple of weeks of hard climbing (for me) as it actually occured in rather innocuous circumstances.

I have an appointent with my GP in 2 weeks to see if it is continuing to heal ok.

In reply to richenson:


Dunno re. fingers but it's definitely quite possible for thumbs. Do a google for skiers thumb - it seems to be quite common for a small bit of bone to get ripped off when the ulnar collateral ligament gets damaged.

Best of luck with the recovery.

In reply to richenson:

When I broke my finger, a ligament pulled a section of bone out of the joint. Can't see why a pulley couldn't..

In reply to richenson:

It happened to a guy climbing Mythical Wall on the Aberdeen sea-cliffs around 1980. His recovery was good; he was told it was less serious than a tendon injury.

In reply to Fiona Reid:

Often gets called Hillend thumb in Scotland, after the dry ski slope in Edinburgh. I did it some 15 years ago when I slipped walking with ski poles. A month in plaster, but now it's fine.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:


Also sometimes referred to as "gamekeeper's thumb" as they are prone to getting it from repeatedly wringing the necks of rabbits.

Iain

In reply to richenson:

Cheers guys. From what I have read, rather perversely, a broken bone will probably heal quicker than a broken pulley. Does make me wonder how I prevent it happening again though; plenty of calcium?...