In the likely case you have not heard of mallet finger before, don’t stress. I certainly was not savvy with the term up until about a week ago after demolishing my pinky finger, so I would imagine most people haven’t heard of it before unless they, too, have experienced it.
I play in a touch rugby league that runs through the winter. We practice inside, on a turf field, and have games every Sunday evening. This past Sunday, conveniently about ten minutes into the first game, I attempted to catch a solid spin pass that was sent my way. My pinky finger on my right hand connected with the ball first, and quite hard, and after fumbling the ball like it was a bar of soap, I eventually dropped it and tried my best to ‘walk it off’ regarding the instant pain in my finger.
I was trying to avoid looking at it to avoid confirming my suspicions that it was indeed fucked until one of my teammates saw it sticking out awkwardly and asked me to show it to her. She had the same injury a few years back and told me it’s no joke; she ended up rupturing her tendon and needed surgery, so she highly recommended getting it looked at. I did, the next day, and I’m waiting to see a surgeon.
I can’t believe the finger in question isn’t broken, because it’s forming angles that are quite unnatural for a finger. However, I am very pleased it is not broken, but the tendon is damaged, hence why I need to see a plastic surgeon next week.
My official diagnosis is mallet finger, and here is a description of it, according to orthoinfo.aaos.org:
“In a mallet injury, when an object hits the tip of the finger or thumb, the force of the blow causes a tear near the insertion (attachment) of the extensor tendon at the last joint of the digit. While the force to cause this injury is typically large, a minor force, such as tucking in a bed sheet, will sometimes cause a mallet finger.
“The injury may either rupture the middle of the tendon or pull the tendon away from the place where it attaches to the finger bone (distal phalanx). In some cases, a small piece of bone is pulled away along with the tendon. This is called an avulsion injury. Sometimes, the avulsion fracture can be quite large and cause instability of the affected joint. In those cases, surgery may be needed,” the website states.
It really is more annoying than anything, but fingers crossed (not really because I can’t) I do not need surgery.
Photo by Claire Brear on Unsplash
ontheedgeofeverything 