swollen finger :(

[leorl]

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hiya, okee so the middle finger of my left hand is all swollen and kinda hurts, but not really badly. I don't remember doing anything to it, didn't bend it in a weird way or drop a weight on it or something, but then when I was rowing it hurt enough for me to say "crap, ow!" which never happens cuz I have a high pain tolerance. It doesn't really look bruised, the bone's not broken or anything, but it makes my hand hurt when I do something simple like comb my hair or turn the doorknob or turn the faucet (and forget turning the oxygen faucets on in lab, damn tight buggers). Any ideas? and before someone comments, no i did not do an excessive amount of flicking people off 🙂

 

[dustinspeer]

Did it happen during rowin? Or did it just hurt then? Adrenaline can make yu not notice pain, especially if it was a sprain, stretched tendon or something.

 

[leorl]

Dustin, I dunno! I have no idea when it happened, but there's not much in the rowing stroke that would make you sprain/strain a finger. It just hurt sometime, I thought nothing of it, then rowed and it hurt a hell of a lot more and got puffy. So I thought it'd go away, but it hasn't. And now it's puffier. And I don't wanna go to health services.

 

[oldman]

i had my middle finger swell up once. i didn't even remember hurting it.

i guess you can ice it down to reduce the swelling.

strange what the body can do sometimes.

 

[fourthyr]

did you puncture, cut, scrape your hand or finger or FINGERNAIL lately? Cutting one's fingernail's too short can cause this problem...... paronychia, perhaps a felon.....?

 

[Dr. Wexler]

If you have open blisters on your fingers/hands as many rowers do your finger may be infected. This is rather rare, although it did happen to me once, so it's not that rare.

 

[Sonya]

idea: ice?

I know, it's really obvious first aid. but it helped me. I fell down once onto the cement (i was carrying way to much luggage and tripped over into the bushes and curb). my finger was bruised/swelled (okay a lot parts of my body were). i hoped it wasn't broken, and so just gave it ice for a long time, and it was fine. it was a darker brownish purplish blackish (or maybe dark gray.. sortof).

sonya

 

[leorl]

Thanks for the replies! Well no, i didn't have any blisters, I rarely get them anymore because I will permanently have tough skin at those spots :wink: . And I didn't cut my fingernails. It's not so bad now cuz I haven't done anything with it, so the swelling's gone down and I can bend it more, although a little sore. Typing aggravates it but I'm not giving up my SDN 🙂 . I dunno what happened, other peopleh have told me they've gotten random swollen fingers/palms too without knowing/remembering why.

Anyway, thanks!

 

[postbacchus]

maybe mild tendonitis? any thoughts?

 

[Fah-Q]

Is the joint swollen or stiff? If so, which joint? How long have you had this? Are you female? How old?

 

[leorl]

I am a 22 year old female, and it's lasted for about 1.5 weeks now. I don't think I have really good joints, I've thought about getting checked for mild arthritis/tendonitis because sometimes my wrists/arms get sore from typing, but this is the first time the swollen finger thing's happened. I just don't really wanna take an unnecessary trip to the doc and it seems to be alleviating.

the joint (knuckle) itself wasn't swollen but rather like the middle of the proximal phalange, and that's where it was sore too.

Thanks much 🙂

 

[Fah-Q]

Any muscle weakness...and I mean abnormal muscle weakness (like you get tired doing something that you didn't used to get tired doing)? Recent rashes? Change in urine? Fever? You're arms and wrists really shouldn't get tired from simply typing, unless you do it all day long.

 

[leorl]

Nope, none of those symptoms! As for the typing, I bought one of those gel things which has helped alleviate the problem but it still crops up sometimes. I don't spend all day typing, but it is usually aggravated when I have a paper due and spend more time than usual on the computer (which isn't saying much cuz I spend huge amounts of time on the computer anyway). We'll see how it is after rowing tomorrow morning

 

[Fah-Q]

It sounds like syphilis to me.

Okay...just kidding, I have no idea. 🙂

 

[leorl]

HEHEHE! i can guarantee it's not syphillis. Besides, shouldn't I have spots on my hands then, or is that just with gonorrhea? Anyway, ok so went rowing this morning and now it definitely hurts more again. However, I did notice that it hurts most when I'm pulling something towards me (like a door handle or a car door handle) which I did extensively because the ghetto school van froze over and it literally took me 10 minutes to tug the driver side door open. Supination, pronation, doesn't matter. Hurts about the same. Since it's carried on for nearly 2 weeks now, I guess it's time to go to health services. But it seems so minor!