Finger Injury - Pain in palm and forearm
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I was bouldering last night and was pulling really hard on a very wide pinch (ie open hand)and heard a pop and had a sharp pain shoot through my palm and forearm. My ring finger became sore and I had some mild pain after. After doing some research it seems like it is definitely a flexor unit strain. I still have full range of motion, no swelling, and the pain is almost gone but their is a small hard "lump" at the end of my ring finger now. The lump is right where the finger connects to my palm and I think it is probably a ganglion cyst. Is this common with this type of injury? Should I be concerned? See a doctor? Any insight would be greatly appreciated |
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You should see a hand specialist ASAP... Rest, Ice, message, stretch, repeat. I have had to deal with years of finger pain and everytime I climb hard my middle knuckles swell and feel 'funny'. It's no fun and honestly it sounds as though you might have a pully tendon tear, or the cyst on the tendon. Were you having any trigger finger prior? |
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Well, a ganglion cyst is not the result of a tendon strain afaik. The cyst forms in the tendon sheath and can occur regardless of injury, whereas a strain occurs due to acute or chronic repetitive trauma and is in the tendon itself. |
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Morgan and Aerili - thanks for the reply, I think you are both right that it is important I see a doctor. I have scheduled to see a specialist tomorrow and will update with what I find out. |
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Good on ya for making an appt. It's probably better to spend a few bucks and get a diagnosis and treatment, than to wait months only to extend recovery time 10-fold+. |
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I would just add that a wide pinch doesn't necessarily equate to what we commonly call an "open hand" grip when considering all fingers. |
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All good thoughts guys, I think the bottom line is I have no idea what happened :( |
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Went and saw the specialist today, turns out it was a partial tear of the A2 pulley. The lump that I noticed is a ganglion cyst which I was told is pretty common with pulley tears, when it tears fluid "leaks" and the cyst forms. Doctor recommended 4-6 weeks and then a gradual return to climbing. Below is a more detailed explanation of the injury in hopes it may help someone learn from my situation. |
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So it has been a little over three weeks since the date of the injury and I am beginning to suspect that the specialist I saw at least partially misdiagnosed me. I have noticed a few things since the time of injury that make me believe that I have a Lumbrical tear: klatring.no/LinkClick.aspx?…. I have tested the finger several times and the only thing that creates pain is when I apply pressure to the tip of my finger in the open hand position with my ring finger isolated (only extend my ring finger and apply resistance). When I apply resistance over several of the fingers no pain, even in the crimp position. Also, the nature of the injury made me slightly skeptical of it being a pulley injury; open hand with my pinkie finger curled and not in use, and pain was in my palm and forearm not in the finger. However, their isn't much about this type of injury and maybe the pop and ganglion cyst indicated that I did a combination of things (a2 pulley and lumbrical tear, sweet). Anyways I have found a physical therapist (I have had much better experiences with them than doctors) that has extensive rock climbing experience that I am meeting with in two weeks so I will update then. Any thoughts in the mean time are much appreciated. |
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Great forum I found talking about Lumbrical tears, hard to find information on this so hopefully this will help queenslandclimbing.yuku.com… |
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That is great you remained curious after your original diagnosis. Heal up and thanks for sticking with your thread! |
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Its not a cyst... OK, you might have one, but thats not the injury. That comes up over time. The "pop" would have nothing to do with the cyst (in the short term). |
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Lumbrical tears are very rare. Strains can happen. |
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had a similar thing happen, exept on a hangboard, pulling on a two finger pocket on the smallest ledge. i heard no pop, but felt it all the way to my elbow immediately and it hurt like hell. drunken feats of strength after a climbing competition are stupid... have a bit of a lump right in the A1 region, even a year after it happened, does it mean anything in particular that i felt it all the way to my elbow? |
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Sam Lightner - Thanks for the thoughts, just curious as why you don't think that it could be a cyst that came from the injury? Some google searching has yielded several forums of people saying they noticed the "bump" after a finger injury (a couple in this post). My understanding of a cyst is that it is caused by the "lubricating liquid" in your joints and tendons leaking out through a small hole, seems like an acute injury could provide this hole? Also, I have now seen two orthopedic hand specialists who both thought it was a cyst that was a result of the injury, one implied that it was pretty common. |
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Final Update: |
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@CollinT - I just came across this thread and am suffering from what seems to be the same type of injury. I've been delaying in seeing a specialist, hoping that the bump at the base of my ring finger and pain would go away, but every time I try to grip anything the pain returns. I would very much appreciate the article you previously mentioned, and any advice on the type of specialist you believe best helped you. I'm stuck between scheduling an appointment with a hang ortho or a Physical therapist with a certified hand therapy specialty. So far I've been buddy taping (taping my ring and middle finger together) and taking a break from climbing. Any suggestions from anyone would be of great help! |
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T.Chin18 - Sorry to hear that man, if you shoot me your email I can send you the article, also check out the post and article I linked above because they are both helpful. I ended up seeing a physical therapist that has been climbing for a long time so he new climbing injuries well. I have always had more luck with physical therapists but I am sure it just depends, I think finding a doctor that is familiar with climbing is most important. For me taping the fingers together helped (didn't at first and kept aggravating it) but I would suggest seeing a doctor of some sort that can assess where you are at with the injury. I took ~5 weeks off climbing and have just recently started gradually returning and it has been pain free and the bump disappeared about a week ago. If you give me some more info about the injury (where was the pain, swelling, range of motion etc.) and what is hurting now (where is the pain, open hand vs crimp, does it hurt if fingers are together etc.) I can tell you how it sounds compared to mine/give you my very unqualified opinion, but I think the biggest thing is find a doctor that knows climbing. |
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@CollinT Thanks a ton for your postings regarding your injury! I've got the same problem and was wondering what therapy techniques helped in recovering. Also, do you do anything special for taping and do you do anything now to prevent the injury from recurring? Thanks again! |
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@rakozy1 My physical therapist did two session of trigger point therapy as well as some form of electrotherapy and ASTYM. I am unsure how big of a difference these made but if nothing else they made it feel temporarily better. The biggest thing for me was just starting to buddy tape the two fingers together which allowed the injury to heal. Once I started buddy taping every day it completely went away, I did this for a month or so and then gradually stopped taping. I stretch my lumbrical muscles now and am more conscience of how I am pulling on holds and make sure I don't curl my unused fingers. So far this has prevented any reoccurring injuries. Good luck and hope you heal fast. |
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Just incurred this exact injury this week. Minus the cyst. Good info. |