Persisting Pain In The Finger After Injury, Difficult To Bend The Knuckle. Reason?

Posted on Sat, 2 Jun 2012

Question: I injured my middle finger maybe a month ago while I was chopping wood in the back yard with an axe. The pain will go away eventually but sometimes I will do something that will reactivate the pain. It makes it difficult and painful to bend at the middle knuckle. I thought this would go away. What could it be?

Answered by Dr. Mitaly (54 minutes later)

Hi,

Thanks for posting your query

The moderate intensity knuckle pain which arises at times can be due to sprain or strain or tendinitis (inflammation of the tendons).

Chances of a fracture seem to be less likely because there would have been tremendous pain, swelling and restriction of movement in that case. To confirm the diagnosis, best would be to get an x-ray (to rule out fractures) and a MRI scan (to confirm cold compresses on the knuckles and take some anti inflammatory pain killers like Ibuprofen after prescription from your doctor.

Give complete rest to the part and avoid doing any activity like which aggravates the pain and symptoms.

Hope this answers your query.I will be available for follow up query in case of doubt.

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Radhika