Finger Injuries in Martial Arts athlete
This sub-elite athlete suffered from an old punching injury to his 3rd metacarpal phalangeal joint a year ago during competition. The initial swelling and pain had subsided with treatment but he still has movement restriction. He should be able to continue training with taping but he will need an X-ray to find out the extent of damage. If the X-ray is normal, physiotherapy with finger exercises would help him regain full range of motion. 
This sub-elite athlete suffered from an Index finger injury 6 months ago. His proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint is still swollen although the pain has mostly subsided. He wanted to fight in another competition and was advised to tape his PIP joint. He should also obtain an X-ray of the PIP joint to rule out more serious injury.
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7 comments:
I have the same injury. Will the joint shrink to its normal size?
It doesn't always.
But there's a chance?
You should check it out with your sports physician or Orthopaedic (Hand & Microsurgery) surgeon.
Is stiffness in the morning normal?
i hope someone can help me with this. On Jan 25th i broke the shaft of my fifth metacarpal. i saw a doctor who advised me to have surgery in order to assure the return of a proper range of motion for my pinky finger. i went for the surgery on Feb. 1st, a week after the injury. ( i was splinted up for that time). screws were placed in my metacarpal to hold it together. following surgery i was not placed in a split becasue my doctor felt that since the screws are holding the bone together that i should take advantage of this and return as soon as possible to using my hand in order to avoid accumulating scar tissue, etc. its been 2 weeks since my operation and my surgical scar is healing up. the stitches have dissolved. but i cannot bend my pinky at the joint. its not an issue of pain, it just stops and springs back up. i can bend the tip and the middle joint of my pinky. just not the one attached to the knuckle joint. its my dominant hand that is broken. im a career musician and artist. i cannot play guitar and cannot paint and hence cannot work/tour. im really scared that its going to remain locked like this and ill never go back to those things again. my doctor has not been helpful at all. during my post o visit he asked how many days it had been since the operation. then proceeded to tell me i have bad scar tissue built up and thats why i cannot move it. he proceeded to bend my fingers forward without any kind of prep. to me knowing. it hurt like hell and i thought my finger was going to break again. i thought it was pretty shady of him to do this without at least x raying the hand first to see how things were holding up. all he did was write me a persciption for loratab and percocets informing me that i was going to need them. when asking why he said because its going to hurt. i understand that. but he didnt even show me what to do to break up the scar tissue. he got up and left unceremoniously after 5 minutes of face time with me.
i went home not knowing what to do to break the scar tissue up and called their office back to get some more answers. i then got referred to a OT who i will be seeing on tuesday and was told i may or may not get motion back. that its up to me. the doctor had promised if i went through surgery i would get range of motion back. now this.... looking at my hand now, there are NO discernable knuckles on my fourth and fifth metacarpal. its just eerily flat and deformed looking. my hand is hard around the scar. i have no feeling (numb) on the inside bottom half of my pinky and the inside bottom half of my ring finger. none in the dip between the knuckles. has anyone had this experience before? can anyone offer me any hope or advice? im really terrified at the thought of not playing music or painting again. i feel completely alone in this and have not been given ANY sort of indication of prognosis from my doctor. please help!
Work closely with your Orthopaedic surgeon and OT. They should be able to assist you to ensure that you regain most of the functional range of motion. However, it may take several weeks and you need to work on the exercise therapy.
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