broke my hand

[fastfredracing]

43 years old and this is my first broken bone. Mechanicn is going to be hard for a while. He called it a boxers break. Right above my pinkie knuckle. How long am I going to be down?. Typing is a be atch.

[jyl]

I think you can immobilize that digit and carry on grasping with the other fingers. Big bummer though. Who'd you punch?

[Rick V]

48 and I have broken every finger I have mostly from wrenching. It usually slows me down for about a week then I learn how to work around the finger.
You had a good run Fred, you have been very lucky.

[aigel]

We need the x-ray!

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. Can't be good when self-employed unless you have disability insurance.

G

[Baz]

Keep charging Freddie!

[Tobra]

metacarpal, not phalanx(finger)

ice and elevation, how do they have it immobilized?

[Jim Bremner]

46 and by the time I was 40 I broke 12 bones not counting fingers and toes.

[Schumi]

I am no where near as old and have broken 4 proximal phanlages (2 on left - ring and middle at the same time, 2 on right - ring and middle, separate incidents), 1 mid-phalanx (right hand ring) and 2 metacarpal - same one on two separate occasions (left middle)

The metacarpals were by far the most pain.

middle phlanx for me doesn't take long at all before I could un-splint it and go about my business. You quickly work around the finger. vicodin helps.

[Bill Douglas]

Ouch.

Get well soon.

[froggert]

ouch, that sucks. i had the same break a few years ago after a motorcycle crash (one week before we were supposed to leave for italy for our honeymoon). doc pinned the bone to heal and iirc i was in a cast for 4 or 6 weeks after. took a while to get full strength back in the hand and my pinky still doesn't have original range of motion. i would see a hand specialist if possible, not just a regular doc.

[fastfredracing]

I have to keep charging. Those cars are not going to fix themselves. I can't figure out how to post up the x rays, but it is a broken metacarpal right above my pinky. Slightly displaced, but no real discomfort, and I have full movement. My finger is still straight. The cave man in me wants to remove the splint, and go to work today. If they cast me. it is going to be the dirtiest cast they have ever seen.
Awful timing, I am busy as heck, and have been working 7 days trying to catch up. This is going to sting a little. I was pushing on a ratchet , and slipped off. blamo, right into my steel work bench.

[Noah930]

See if you can post up a pic of the x-rays.

A boxer's fracture is a 5th (pinky digit) metacarpal neck fracture. They take about 6 weeks to heal. Often they can be treated non-operatively. But there are a couple indications for surgery.

If you have rotational deformity of the finger, it's an absolute indication for surgery. That's if the pinky finger seems to cross or scissor over the ring finger (or splay out the other way) when making a fist. Rotational deformity = surgery.

A second common indication for surgery is if there's more than about 30-45 degrees of palmar angulation of the fracture fragment. When looking at the x-ray from the side (the lateral view), the metacarpal bone should line up straight, right? The bone has an longitudinal axis. But with a fracture, almost invariably the distal fracture fragment bends down to the palm. It does that because the flexor muscles are stronger than the extensors. If the angle at which it "bends down" on the x-ray is more than about 30-45 degrees (depends on which textbook you read), then it's worth operating. Another indication for surgery is if the bones just don't line up at all (i.e. they're lined up like a boyonnet).

But, if you report you can still make a good fist, and that there's no lag when trying to straighten the fingers out (the pinky does not droop), then you're probably going to be OK without surgery. You'll need a cast/splint, though, for immobilization. Either pins keep you immoblized or a cast/splint does. However it doesn't sound like you're one to sit still for 4-6 weeks. The risk is that the bones aren't rotated/angulated/displaced right now, but in the 4 weeks or so that they take to get "sticky," your activity will cause them to move and you'll turn a non-operative situation into an operative one. Then you may have difficulty down the road with make a fist or straightening out the finger all the way.

Sorry for your predicament. Best of luck.

[Zeke]

^^^^ IOW, don't mess with it.

There was a French door maker and installer around here that came into the business from the carpentry end. He wanted to be out on the job every day trusting the manufacturing side to a foreman.

He broke his hand one day and had to go work in his office. His company grew four fold that year once he took over the office and manufacturing.

Is it possible that now is the time to bring in a mechanic and quit busting your ass every day for wages?

[Jim Bremner]

I was a dumb-ass in my early 20's I had a tendon pull out a chunk of bone in my right foot. I couldn't sleep one night and cut my cast off and never went back to the Dr. It was 4 1/2 weeks on a 6 week cast.

Foot still bothers me

I would look at bringing in a grunt. making 50% of someone else's work is better than a bum hand

[RWebb]

any edema?

be very conservative ("safe") with this - learn to use the other hand and don't rush things

BTW - people often thing the little pinkie is no big deal, but it is important in gripping objects (esp. in kendo...)

[Bugsinrugs]

I had a kick-back on my table saw the other day. Besides the one inch splinter deposited into my palm, the oak I was ripping slammed my hand hard. X rays showed no breaks but four days later I still cannot straighten out my middle finger. Did not keep me from going back to work. I do hardwood floors.

[Noah930]

Originally Posted by Bugsinrugs

I had a kick-back on my table saw the other day. Besides the one inch splinter deposited into my palm, the oak I was ripping slammed my hand hard. X rays showed no breaks but four days later I still cannot straighten out my middle finger. Did not keep me from going back to work. I do hardwood floors.

How long ago was that? How's the hand now?

[ckelly78z]

I went for 47 years with only one cracked rib, then in August, some ********* ran a stop sign into me while I was driving my 83 944. 4 broken ribs, cracked sternum, 2 broken toes, and 10 breaks in my shattered pelvis (now have a plate/pins/screws).

I was just really glad that I had no hand/arm shoulder problems because I was on a walker with no weight bearing for 3 months. I'm sure at some point, I have broken fingers and worked around them, but never had a doctor treat them.

[Eric 951]

Had the same break in my early 20s as a result of a college brawl. Unfortunately it required surgery/and a pin. If you can get by without the surgery go this route, as the pin/cast were no fun to deal with. IIRC hand was out of commison for 5 weeks.

[Bugsinrugs]

Originally Posted by Noah930

How long ago was that? How's the hand now?

Happened on Wednesday. Swelling has gone down and I have re gained some movement in my finger but I still can't straighten it out. I believe I injured the flexor tendon to my middle finger.