Hand issues

[roseflower1]

I had a tail end accident in my car mid last year and I protected myself with my hands on steering wheel. My right hand little finger has been hurting since then. I’ve had 2 x rays and both times doctor told me that they can’t see any fractures.

GP also recommended to an USS and they found a broken bone on 5th metacarpal. But the orthopedic doctor won’t believe it as they rely on x ray . I still have pain if I write / shake hands / knead dough which I have stopped doing. Right is my dominant hand.

They have recommended me to hand therapy for 8 weeks before recommending a MRI.

What should I expect in hand therapy? What can I do/ tell doctors to make this pain go away ? I’ve had enough ibuprofen for a lifetime.

Anyone?

First of all have you tried topical pain killers? Diclofenac gel (brand name voltarol but there are others) is as effective as oral ibuprofen and kinder on the stomach. Comes in different strengths.
I'm seeing a hand physiotherapist for rheumatoid arthritis damage. Essentially my fingers are fused, don't bend or are bent the wrong way and the joints are swollen and painful.
They look at two things - pain and function. My objective is to gain more function. Only been once so far and was given a series of exercises to do and advice on soaking in warm water first and applying gel before the exercises. I'm not very optimistic about results though.

Thank you. I’ve tried ibuprofen gel localized to the area.

I had my meeting yesterday and they’ve given me a Bedford to keep 2 fingers together. And also another USS to identify what’s causing the pain. Next meeting in 5 weeks. So hopefully this will get better soon.

I’m sorry for your pain, finger / hand pain is bad.

I fell and my hand swelled up. Went to A and E told no fracture (but some bones look chipped and had an a sharp edge) and you need to let swelling go down wait 6-8 weeks. Went back 6 weeks later as no change and told to leave it 12 months as tissue damage and and there was ‘fractures’ that had healed. No change in 12 months saw consultant multiple issues with joints and damage between joints. Fingers dislocating twenty times a day. 16 months later - Operation to remove joints and fuse bones together. 8 weeks to recover from surgery and 20 weeks of physiotherapy. Hand will never move the same but pain is gone. As an earlier poster said my choice was clear- lose some function and try to eliminate pain. My fingers don’t bend the same way now - they move up and down but don’t bend. But I had lost daily function any way through daily pain. It was pretty awful surgery but the joints were so damaged the consultant said we can steroid injections but you will be back in 6 months so I chose surgery. I expect my recovery was so poor because I was left for 12-18 months with 20 plus dislocations a day on my writing hand.

I will have my other hand (same injury but not as bad) done in the next few years but the pain from previous surgery was pretty horrific so I need a couple more years to build myself up to it.

I would try to avoid strapping and to keep it mobile as possible whilst keeping any broken bone fixed. Trouble is you don’t want it in the fixed wrong position and I don’t want to give you medical advice. Warmth eased my pain not ice. Gentle exercise, stop if too much pain. I had a plastic moulded boat around the broken fused bones on all my fingers and wonder if that would be good for you?

I wonder if a plastic boat type almost clipped on the side might have helped whilst it healed but I don’t think it will now (see my image below) . As you are 6-8 weeks post injury the bones will have fused already. See my other image. If you think you had a boxer’s break on the end (or you KNOW you have). X rays are not exact- in my case my injury damaged the cartilage between the joints and the fractures I had weren’t repairable (chips and edges knocked off bones) but the main damage was the cartilage which wasn’t repairable so bone fusing was the only option. So it might be cartilage- in my case the injury caused cartilage in all my fingers to be damaged and basically gave me arthritis in my entire hand.

Pain relief, paracetamols and ibuprofen but when taken rest the joint completely. Put it in the sling and rest it. Elevate if you can. Whilst you wait for hand therapy and MRI.

My work were very unsympathetic to my injury really and were ‘oh how terrible’ but then gave me 500 pages to write by hand that week - and honestly that is what damaged the injury more. I have a role to play in that too - I should have got the GP or OH to stop me writing within my job quicker prior to surgery. To be fair to work - once the consultant said to them the constant dislocations have caused the long recovery they were happier about the long recovery time post surgery.

For me serious painkillers and elevate are the only things that helped post surgery but nothing really before. If it was painful I took painkiller but then work gave me more work and actually when I didn’t take painkillers I could say - I need to stop my fingers won’t move now.

I’m sorry you are in this position. But gentle flexing etc and wait do MRI is probably your best bet!

I’m so sorry for what you have been through it’s mad that they leave it “to heal itself” for so long and then have to do corrective surgery which could have been avoided in the first place. I been to A&E and fracture clinic and GP a combined 6 times. They could have referred me to therapy sooner. NHS is so broken. 😞
I am tempted to ask my insurance to pay me as I didn’t claim personal injury at that time.

I hear you. My injury was caused by a company’s (not mine) negligence / accident. The staff left a highly slippery and unexpected slippery surface as a main access. I wasn’t the only person to fall that day but the worse. I keep being told even by NHS staff to go for compensation but it feels wrong to do so and I’m like I just want my hands back not stress from a court case.

• in fact the access route was the only access route that day and it looked fine - hot summer day and not slippery but it did was covered in a slippery substance.

They still have the same problem and haven't really addressed it although the worst bits are cordoned off two years later!