Self Diagnosing Finger Tendon Injuries

Four days ago I was bouldering indoors. It was towards the end of the night and I decided to have one last go at my V5 project. I was crimping and pulling on a small sidepull with my left hand when my foot slipped. I heard an audible sequence of cracks and/or pops. The finger effected was my left ring finger. As much as I think its the A2, I really don't know for sure. I'm wondering if there is any way to self diagnose the injury via a series of physical tests?

Injury Characteristics

• The finger is not painful at rest. When I move it, its a little stiff and slow with some dull pain. 
• Visual indications of swelling have been minimal. The finger has a good range of motion but is slightly stiff.
• I heard a sequence of "cracks" or "pops" when the injury happened. 
• Squeezing the finger near the A2 pulley does produce some dull pain. Specifically on the pad and sides of the finger. No other pain points exist.

Questions:

1. Are there any known ways to physically test the finger to identify the injury?
2. Do audible cracks or pops only happen when a tendon ruptures? Or, is it possible to hear those noises during a mild strain?
3. Has anyone had any luck taking collagen for tendon recovery or strengthening?

1. Done by your doctor.
2. Not always.
3. Not me.
https://www.racgp.org.au/afp/2012/april/hands,-fingers,-thumbs/

1. The ultrasound test is _super_ neat. It's awesome to see it in action (in both orientations). highly recommended.
2. I _did_ have a minor pulley injury that lasted forever, with _no_ pops. Feels like popping indicates yours might be worse. I also didn't have much in the way of pain/swelling/etc., but ended up losing 4-6 weeks of climbing. Staying away from those pockets like the plague.

Good luck!

@Josh Gates,

When you had the ultrasound, were you able to tell that it was a strain and not a rupture? Was the feedback instant?

What was your course of action for treatment of the injury?

Collagen will not help. Collagen is a protein, and a very poor source at that. It will be broken down into individual amino acids when digested, and has no magical benefit. You're better off taking high quality protein which will provide all the same amino acids collagen would plus many more that collagen won't. 

dave rosen wrote: Collagen will not help. Collagen is a protein, and a very poor source at that. It will be broken down into individual amino acids when digested, and has no magical benefit. You're better off taking high quality protein which will provide all the same amino acids collagen would plus many more that collagen won't. 

Can't stress this enough. Collagen, at least taken for purposes of healing a tendon injury in snake oil. As with any protein your body intakes it's broken down into it's various amino acids and then used to rebuild whatever your body needs. Definitely go for complete protein powder.

Bob Klaas wrote: @Josh Gates,

When you had the ultrasound, were you able to tell that it was a strain and not a rupture? Was the feedback instant?

What was your course of action for treatment of the injury?

Yes - you can see how the thin moves and if it's intact. In my case, the doc didn't think that there was bowstringing from his exam, but wanted to make sure. 

It was mostly rest. Doc didn't add much more than that. I did the therapy putty thing for a few weeks; may have helped, may have just taken my mind off of things while I was going crazy not being able to climb.