FINGER, THUMB AND HAND FRACTURES

Injuring your fingers is very common. Generally minor breaks are called hairline fractures. They are small cracks on the edges of the bone. Almost like an egg shell being cracked.

Mild Symptoms:

• Bruising
• Mild swelling
• No pain when not moving your finger
• Slight pain when trying to move your finger (pain is tolerable – not bad)
• No changes in skin sensation 

 

When your bone is broken completely and  has moved, shifted or turned, and the two bones have not separated too far apart. In most cases these bone breaks can heal with proper treament. In the worst case senerio, the bone segments are displaced, yet the fragments are stable enough to be safely treated without surgery.

Even if you do not feel extreme pain, this doesn’t mean that the fracture doesn’t require medical attention.

Moderate Symptoms:

• Severe Bruising : 5 – 10 minutes after injury
• Swelling and bleeding visible under the skin (Showing a bluish color)
• Constant pain regardles of movement or not
• Loss of any hand or finger movement
• Unable to grip anything
• No changes in skin sensation (normal feeling on your skin)

 

When your fingers or hand is completely broken through and the loose pieces of bone shift away from each other far apart. In this case, your injury will not not heal by itself.

The irregular shape of your finger will be very obvious. In this case, you should seek emergency medical care as soon as possible. 

With a severe fracture, you can experience nerve pain. 

Severe symptoms combined with possible nerve damage:

• Burning unbearable pain
• Tingling, Pins & Needles
• Inability to grip or move hand
• Electrical shock feeling pain
• Numbness, Weakness
• Dead feeling over your skin

Symptoms of a stress fracture:

• Pain that gets worse during physical activity
• Pain that doesn’t go away after stopping activity
• Pain that’s more noticeable when you’re resting
• Pain with even a slight touch on or near the bone.
• Swelling

Treatments: How To Treat A Broken Hand

Many hand fractures will not require surgery. There are many treatment options to heal broken fingers, broken metacarpals, and other hand injuries, including splints and braces that are used to immobilize the injured bones. In some cases, patients may need to wear larger casts to immobilize their entire hand or wrist. The purpose of the splints and casts is to hold the bones in place, allowing the area to heal, while also minimizing the risk of reinjury during your recovery process.

If misalignment occurs, you may need to have the injuried area manually repositioned. Example, your finger before using a splint or cast to treat.

In the case of severe hand injuries, Dr. Pournaras will advise you if surgery is needed. 

Before hand fractures treatment, a local or general anesthesia may be used depending on the specific surgery. Broken hand surgery may involve using small pins and wires to hold the fractured bones in place.

In some cases, metal plates and screws may be used to ensure the bones of your hand are properly aligned.

If any of the bones shattered, it is usually necessary to use a bone graft transplant taken from another part of your body. A bone graft may also be used to treat a bone that has not healed properly after a previous injury or surgery.