Persisting Pain In The Finger After Injury, Difficult To Bend The Knuckle. Reason?

Posted on Mon, 5 Sep 2011

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 5 Sep 2011 Answered on

Sat, 2 Jun 2012 Last reviewed on

Question : I injured my middle finger maybe a month ago while I was chopping wood in the back yard with an axe. The pain will go away eventually but sometimes I will do something that will reactivate the pain. It makes it difficult and painful to bend at the middle knuckle. I thought this would go away. What could it be?

Answered by Dr. Mitaly (54 minutes later)

Hi,

Thanks for posting your query

The moderate intensity knuckle pain which arises at times can be due to sprain or strain or tendinitis (inflammation of the tendons).

Chances of a fracture seem to be less likely because there would have been tremendous pain, swelling and restriction of movement in that case. To confirm the diagnosis, best would be to get an x-ray (to rule out fractures) and a MRI scan (to confirm cold compresses on the knuckles and take some anti inflammatory pain killers like Ibuprofen after prescription from your doctor.

Give complete rest to the part and avoid doing any activity like which aggravates the pain and symptoms.

Hope this answers your query.I will be available for follow up query in case of doubt.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Radhika