Have you dislocated a finger before?

Foxhound5366 said:
This should apply for both finger dislocations and sprains.

Just a couple questions:
1) How long did it take to heal?
2) Can you remember if you had stiffness from the injured finger while it was healing?
3) Did you go to a doctor or just let it heal by itself?

My ring finger was pretty badly sprained (maybe a bit dislocated but everything flexed ok after a bit) and immediately swelled up and was bruised, and a week later the inflammation is gone but there's still a good bit of stiffness. I've read it can take 9 weeks to heal.
Click to expand...

My pinkies, while playing action netball. Right one was just sprained, the left one was properly dislocated and I popped it back in myself. Then a buddy splint to the one next to it. It got pretty stiff pretty fast. I couldn't completely close or open it. Not even close.
I think after about a week I went to a physio who referred me to an occupational therapist who I went to see about a week after that. She said I waited too long, and since it was dislocated those stabilizing ligaments were off.
I can't remember exactly what she did (maybe some massaging?), but I had to wear a splint to straighten (open) it out a bit. During follow up visits she adjusted the splint.
I had to do exercises about every hour or so. Apply light pressure closing it, and then again opening it. I think I applied more when opening it. Press down on the joint with your forefinger, and the thumb on the tip of the finger to force it open. Stop if it hurts.
I think I had 2 visits, so probably 2 weeks with the splint? I think it was about a month before I could try to play guitar with it and even more before I could try to do a pullup.

Anyway, mostly a full recovery. I can play guitar with the left pinkie. It is almost completely straight when opening it, and I can touch my callus when closing it without assistance although it feels slightly stiff and doing the movement a lot it starts to feel tender.
It's not as strong as it was since there are a few less ligaments, but I hope it will strengthen with time.

This was probably around 3 - 4 years ago, and I think soon after the last visit with the OT I stopped exercising it.
 
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You need to take care of it properly. Its important to get an exercise ball or hand-strengthener to play with even once a week in the hand to keep the joints strong.

When I was 17 I was playing at the pool one summer in a complex with the kids, and we were running around and I went to grab this girl to push her into the pool. She screamed with laughter and tried to kick me, but instead got the middle finger of my right had straight-on and fractured it.
It was in a splint for about 2 weeks - had it scanned and they said it would be fine given some meds.

About 20 years later it started hurting and locking every winter as the joint packs up. When I went to the doctor he sent me to a hand specialist who said the tendon got damaged over time and its "locking" over the joint where the finger meets the hand. He injected some cortisone into it and it went away but i can feel its unhappy again now - but its lasted about 3 years with the injection.
 
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