MCP finger injury advice

Since the end of March, I've been dealing with an injury to my middle finger metacarpophalangeal joint. I jammed the finger while bouldering in the gym. I believe it to be a relatively minor ligament injury, perhaps to the collateral ligament or to the sagittal band, as I have full motion in the finger and nothing is odd except for pain. As far as climbing goes, which I haven't done much of, crimping is totally fine - it's holding onto jugs and rope/gear management that irritates it, and that irritation gets worse the longer a session goes.

I've seen both my GP and a hand orthopedic about this, and they've had me buddy taping the finger but otherwise no treatment. They've advised that it can take a long time... 6-12 months to fully heal. And I could deal with that if it seemed to be progressing, but I'm at over three months now and it feels very similar to when I first injured it. Nobody wants to do an MRI, so I'm not sure exactly what the issue is.

Has anyone here dealt with MCP injuries? If so, did you pinpoint what was wrong and how did your recovery go? Did you climb while waiting for it to heal?

Thanks!

Did this ever resolve itself?

Hi Eric - it did, but it took a long time. In the end, the docs were right I suppose. After about 6 months I could do *most* things climbing related, though I didn't have full strength in that finger again until 9-10 months. I didn't really do any sort of specialized rehab (rubber-hand resistance stretching maybe?), so perhaps some time could be shaved off of that, but I'm guessing not a ton.

Fortunately, once it healed it was as if it never happened... no lasting issues. I wish I could say the same about the pulley injury I had last year!

Did you stop climbing?  Or just keep climbing more or less normally?

This is such a weird injury.  I think i injured mine putting on and taking off my climbing shoes with the little cloth loop on the back.

Anyway, climbing doesn't seem to be the issue.  But if I push my index finger against my thumb I feel irritation.  Not really pain per se.   But the "stop doing that" sensation.   

It seems minor but it's sticking around.   

I get the frustration! It sounds like yours may be more minor than mine was, so if you can climb without issue, I suspect that's probably fine maybe even helpful for blood flow as long as you are careful. I did basically stop for a 2-3 months, but I couldn't climb without pain. Even when I started again, I would get some soreness but it didn't seem to impede the healing for what it's worth.