Injured Pointer finger

Hiya mt projecters,
I recently tweaked my pointer finger, climbing thin crack on a crack machine, .2 to .75(lots of .3 and .75), 10 degrees over-hanging. I'd been trying to set the locks real hard, and climb real statically, eliminating shift between locks on sizes that I tend to slip out of, hoping to get some useful strength to bring into the mountains as the season begins. However I noticed a general ache, discomfort, not pain, in the middle of my right pointer about two weeks ago. I continued to climb every other day, taping to provide support for what I thought was a light strain that would disappear in week or so. About a week ago I left the gym with distinct pain when the finger is bent at the second knuckle, curling the finger into the closed position creates a sensation of pressure at the second knuckle. There is near constant discomfort in all regular movement of the second knuckle and occasional pain if the inside(ulnar?) of the second knuckle is bumped or struck.
Its, been almost a week since I climbed last and it really hasn't improved noticeably. Does anyone have any idea what I did, and more importantly how long should I keep off of it..

Robin here's a thread discussing similar finger pain issues.
mountainproject.com/v/osteo…

There is also
mountainproject.com/v/middl…

Hope you find some relief and this is not an actual injury.
When I bump the nuckle with arthritis, the pain is almost enough to bring me to my knees.

Tom-o

Thanks Tom-o,however this injury doesn't seem to fit under the osteoarthritis flag(though I imagine I'll develop that somewhere or another down the line). What I'm experiencing feels more like an injury than a degeneration. I was thinking some sort of tissue compression, strain, or bruise..

R&I has quite a few articles. I just searched "tendon injuries" on their main page, look through these for your symptoms. Hope you find it and it's not bad.

R&I Tendon Search

Is there pain or instability when attempting to move the 2nd joint laterally (your fingers aren't designed to move in this direction, but there should be a small amount of painfree motion).

There is some discomfort when moving outward(abduction?), hyper-extension of the joint results in pain.

-robin- wrote:There is some discomfort when moving outward(abduction?), hyper-extension of the joint results in pain.

I agree it sounds like a PIP sprain of some kind. Probably worth getting an x-ray to rule out an avulsion fracture. I'd be careful about trying to come back too soon as it might result in some sort of chronic instability which would not be good for crack climbing. 6-12 weeks of rest/protection/rehab is the norm for most sprains.

Thanks! I think the right, collateral ligament, is the affected area. So strange, I generally think of volar plate tears, sprains, or ruptures when it comes to PIP joint injuries, not the collaterals, but I think that's it. I really appreciate everyone help!

Definitely sounds like a collateral ligament/joint capsule injury. Tips cracks, ring locks and other such torquing shenanigans puts a lot of stress on those tissues.
Rehab is basically the same principles that apply to pulley injuries. A)Don't do any activities that will re-injure the tissue, ie. if it actively hurts during climbing avoid it.
B) A moderate sprain of connective tissue/fascia is going to take anywhere from 4-8weeks to fully heal... and then you can start pushing it to rebuild the strength that you lost in the tissue while you were healing up.