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Jammed finger/Trigger Finger
07-21-2018, 02:10 AM
Curious if anyone out there has had this issue. In March I jammed my index finger in an accident at work. I have played sports for years and figured the old rest, ice, compression and elevation would fix it in a week or so. Months later still no luck.
So I visited a hand specialist got x-rays no broken bone. Was told to soak in hot water and bend the finger slowly to reduce the swelling and to keep some 3M sports tape on it to compress the swelling in the finger.
It’s going on almost 6 months and I still can not bend the finger fully. Its flexible to a bit above my palm to form a C like pulling a trigger. Not comfortable and pain in the ass while working out.
Are there any other forum members that have had such an issue? I am thinking there may be some tendon damage or the possible diagnosis of trigger finger where the tendons are damaged or inflamed. I plan to revisit the hand specialist after my vacation to get more professional input. Any input or feedback is appreciated.
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Jammed finger/Trigger Finger
07-26-2018, 01:18 PM
I had a similar situation with the middle knuckle of my middle finger.
I think your diet will play big role in this. Perhaps do a google search about nutrition and reducing inflammation. I think the TLDR is going to be to avoid processed foods and sugary foods altogether, avoid bad oils like cooking in vegetable oil, more water less caffeine and alcohol, more fish less red meat, plenty of vegetables. Fish oil is supposed to be anti-inflammatory and there seems to be experts on both sides of the fish oil debate, so I don't know if it works but it might.
When you pop a knuckle, the sound you here is a bubble bursting in the synovial fluid as the joint shifts positions. One way to pop a knuckle is pulling or stretching out your finger. This next part is a little bro-sciency so follow it at your own risk.... With my middle finger, it was jammed for a very long time and the slightest push in the wrong direction would agitate it and cause the inflammation and swelling to persist. This would happen a lot when I washed my hands. I think the swelling was holding the bones in a position where it was easy to agitate the injury. One time that the swelling had gone down a bit, I pulled the finger and was able to pop the knuckle for the first time. It was a strange feeling but the injury healed within about a week of that happening. I think it was all of matter of the positioning of the knuckle.
If it happened to me again I would be diligent with diet, ice the injury a lot to reduce inflammation and depending on the circumstances I might try to pop the knuckle into a better position.
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Jammed finger/Trigger Finger
08-05-2018, 08:01 AM
Thanks for all the valuable information and replies I have received. Just a quick update. I have been travelling fairly intensely so my diet, workout schedule and sleep patterns have been thrown to the wind. The jammed index finger has somewhat improved. However I cannot fully straighten the finger or curl the finger to touch the palm of my hand. It still feels very stiff but I would say there is a mild improvement.
My take is rest and doing as minimal stress to the finger as possible will help in the recovery. I will continue to ice, wrap and use heat to try to alleviate the swelling. It has been now exactly 4 months since the injury and I would say it's far from even 50% better.
I do feel this might be a nagging injury for sometime but will continue to follow doctors advice and the information you all have provided.
Thanks again for the help....and I will keep this thread updated hopefully as this nagging injury progresses.
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Jammed finger/Trigger Finger
12-08-2018, 12:10 PM
I played guitar for the first time in seven months since my injury. Played for an hour, the next day my thumb was fine.
Next day: again an hour, no problem
Next day: again an hour ... tiny problem, felt a hot pinch in the affected area, so took it easy.
Overall, the problem ( Quervains Syndrome) is getting better, I think this is due to completely stopping the activity that caused it in the first place and that was playing guitar. There's an artist named Feist that was told by a doctor to not sing or do anything with her vocal chords for a whole year, she took the advice and now she has a great career. Miles Davis on the other hand probably didn't rest his vocal chords and ended up with that distinctive whisper-voice.
I also got trigger finger from work, I'd wake up with my middle-finger locked into place. I found out what caused it, a movement I was repeating several times a day. I found another way to do the movement and it's slooowly getting better.
I was thinking about expansion and contraction, and how often these two forces are found everywhere in life/nature. Some people think icing is bad, not sure, I'm thinking about a hot then cold treatment for a tendon, the heat for expansion and blood flow, then ice to put the tendon to sleep, so to speak, to make it rest, then normal activity the rest of the day. Maybe a hot/cold treatment three times a day.
For sure an absolute must for tendonitis seems to be complete non-use initially, but this is almost impossible when it's your hand and you need to work.