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benbro
Social climber
San Francisco/South Lake Tahoe
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 12, 2015 - 10:25am PT
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After a particularly awkward route during a gym session yesterday I came away with a strange pain in my right ring finger that almost felt like a bad bruise. When I flex he finger I get pain in the top side of my finger between the PIP and DIP joints (knuckles 2 and 3).
I'm all too familiar with A2 and A4 strains but this is a different soreness and the location at the upper side rather than the lower side of the finger makes me think it isn't a pulley or a collateral ligament injury.
Anyone else experienced this? I could have just smashed it on a hold and am freaking out about nothing but I'm kind of cautious/paranoid with finger things.
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Apr 12, 2015 - 11:25am PT
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Yes. I've been through two of these over the last four years. Sounds like and extensor tendon sprain. Also known as mallet finger if you actually snap the tendon.
First one was my middle finger. I fell with it locked in a crack, and it caught my fall briefly before it tore out of the crack.
The next day my pip was sore as fvck, but I stupidly kept climbing on it. It "healed" with a "goose neck" formation where I cannot straighten it 100% and it won't fully flex either. It still hurts and swells when i'm pulling hard on it. The only time it really didn't hurt was when I broke my back and took four months off climbing.
In late December I pulled my pinky finger in crack when i fell off the opening move of Crime of the Century. It hurt mostly in the dip joint this time and the joint was visibly tweaked. It hurt right where your talking about, in between the dip and pip.
I went to the doctor this time and she suggested I buddy tape it to the next finger. So i did that for the next four weeks and saw no improvement.
I saw a massage therapist friend of mine at the grocery store who had a finger with the same goose neck deformity as my middle finger. She said he ortho had told her she would need to immobilize it for 6-8 weeks but she didn't follow the splinting regimen closely enough and it still healed with the goose neck.
So i went to my physio and got a custom plastic splint. I spent 24/7 in it, showered in it, made sure i didn't bend my finger. After about four weeks i started working through the range of motion a bit, but i did too much. You really need to make sure it doesn't hurt when you are bending or manipulating the finger.
So I backed off for a week and was more careful the next time I started bending it. I'm about 9 weeks from when I started wearing the pinky splint and I only use it occasionally at night or climbing now. My pinky is straight but I can't fully collapse it into my knuckle yet.
It's coming back more each day, and it really likes it when i use this:
http://www.amazon.com/701-Medicated-Plaster-ZhengTong-YaoGao/dp/B001NN5QP2#
Or go to cold laser therapy. Massage is also very useful as is icing when it's swollen.
Good luck.
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benbro
Social climber
San Francisco/South Lake Tahoe
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2015 - 12:12pm PT
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Thanks Mike - sorry to hear your injury was so rough and REALLY hope that I didn't mess my finger up that badly!
It certainly seems like it's something to do with the extensor tendon (since that's about the only thing on the posterior side of the finger that it could be). Thankfully, it's feeling A LOT better today but I'm taking a few more days off to see how it progresses before climbing on it - no swelling or reduced ROM though I can feel it a bit when rapidly flexing the finger toward the palm. Essentially, I think I just "jammed" my finger causing pain in the tendon...but "fingers-crossed" pun intended.
I found this post, which was super helpful: http://www.rockclimbing.com/forum/Climbing_Information_C2/Injury_Treatment_and_Prevention_F25/Finger_injury...please_help_diagnose..._P1945588/
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Big Mike
Trad climber
BC
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Apr 13, 2015 - 12:35pm PT
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You'll be fine. Just rest it and maybe splint it if your going to do something where you might jam it again.
It sounds like that guy in your link didn't really have the best outcome. He pushed it too early. Make sure there is no discomfort when doing range of motion stuff.
Good luck
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benbro
Social climber
San Francisco/South Lake Tahoe
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2015 - 12:15pm PT
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No pain whatsoever 1 week after it happened and climbing at full strength, definitely think I just jammed my finger/minorly strained the extensor tendon.
Putting this as an FYI for anyone else who reads this forum post in the future with the same problem.
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