Finger injuries

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 20 Dec 2007 03:33

Hey so I may have broken my little finger today, or done some serious damage anyway. My question is, has anybody suffered an injury like this before, and did you find that it made footbag more difficult? Obviously it's in a sling at the moment, but hopefully in a little over a week I'll be at a footbag camp. Think it will make a difference?

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 20 Dec 2007 04:21

i've broken one finger and jammed a lot playing basketball. if they're bad it hurts for about 2 weeks, and fast movement hurts a lot for me. If it bothers you after a week, I would suggest you tape it up to your ring finger to decrease the movement.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 20 Dec 2007 05:23

Thanks for the tips. I live with a doctor, I've taken some advice. I'm just wondering if it will bother me playing footbag or not.

dasreen · Post by **dasreen** » 20 Dec 2007 09:42

How about play tomorrow and see for yourself? I mean, nobody knows at what point your personal threshold of pain is.

Benzilla · Post by **Benzilla** » 20 Dec 2007 12:41

Yea, just play or try to play footbag and if you have problems then there's your answer. I've played with huge scraps on my legs and arm and they were only uncomfotable at first, but after then unstiffened they stopped hurting until i was done.

Just make sure you don't bash your hand while shreddin or something.

Bringerofpie · Post by **Bringerofpie** » 20 Dec 2007 20:24

And be glad your not a guitarist (unless you are).

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 20 Dec 2007 22:40

Good advice all round. I was more wondering if anybody else had had similar injuries and what their personal experience was. Had x-rays today, definitely broken. There was talk of plaster but I was like; "there's no way you're putting my arm in a cast for tiny chip out of my bone in my little finger" so they didn't

slapdash21 · Post by **slapdash21** » 21 Dec 2007 04:58

i badly broke my little finger about 6 months ago. mine was so badly broken, and the edges were too smooth to stick together, so they had to surgically implant two thin metal pins through the entire top section of my finger. i'll post pictures later. they had me in a large cast that went almost to my elbow for awhile. i only played footbag in it once (my doctor recommended staying away from most physical activity), because it felt like a lot of pressure was on that part of my hand, and it just felt uncomfortable and slightly painful. if you do play footbag with a broken finger, try not to swing it very much if possible (good for form anyway, imo) and definitely whatever you do, do not kick your hand. believe me.

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 21 Dec 2007 19:05

Jeremy wrote:Good advice all round. I was more wondering if anybody else had had similar injuries and what their personal experience was. Had x-rays today, definitely broken. There was talk of plaster but I was like; "there's no way you're putting my arm in a cast for tiny chip out of my bone in my little finger" so they didn't

casts are pretty pointless for such a small part of your body. i suggest just using one of those $3 finger splints. you know what i mean? theyre metal and have padding on the inside. anyway, thats what i did.

i found that it didnt effect my footbagging, having a hurt finger. actually it took my mind off of it.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 21 Dec 2007 23:51

Yep, no doubt you know more about medicine than the surgeon with 6 years of general medical training and other 5 years of specialist training. Casts are obviously helpful, it's just that I, in my youthful arrogance, am more concerned about being able to play footbag in a week than I am about having painful arthritis and a lack of movement of my little finger in my older years.

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 22 Dec 2007 00:33

Jeremy wrote:Yep, no doubt you know more about medicine than the surgeon with 6 years of general medical training and other 5 years of specialist training.

then why did you even ask

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 22 Dec 2007 07:36

I asked if anybody had any experience playing footbag with a broken finger, not if they thought they knew more about medicine than my doctors.

dp · Post by dp » 22 Dec 2007 07:42

When I was just starting footbag I was in a full arm cast cuz I had a really inflamed ligament in my wrist. I was just starting out, so that's not the best time to really judge it, but I found it didn't effect me. After I got out of the full arm cast they put me in a cast up to my elbow and that definitely didn't affect footbag at all.

King Monkey · Post by **King Monkey** » 30 Dec 2007 02:44

I would only really be concerned about 'monkey claw' and similar involuntary movements when you shred. There may be some muscle contractions in your hands that you arent even concious of, but may not be good for your breakage. I sometimes get arthritic pain flaring up in my hand when i shred, if i try to catch the bag at some awkward angle after f***ing up some set or whatever. I havent noticed you with much of a monkey claw generally though Jeremy so i guess it wont be an issue.

Jeremy · Post by **Jeremy** » 30 Dec 2007 18:54

Yeah I think it will be fine. I played cricket a few days after breaking it, and went pretty well, so if it's ok for cricket it's ok for footbag. It's still sore, but the bruising has almost disappeared and I have almost 50% of movement back. Still fairly swollen though, but that can take months to go away with broken fingers.

It was never really that bad though, even when I did it (playing touch football), I just snapped it back into place and kept playing. It freaked a few people out though since it was basically sticking up at a right angle at the second joint. In hindsight my only regret is that I didn't rush over to my bag and take a photo with my phone. We only had 5 players though, so I had to be straight back into the action.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 02 Jan 2008 23:35

It's a shame I didn't see this before we shredded today - I broke my thumb a few years back - the tendon pulled a bit off bone off.

I needed a cast - not a plaster one ut a thermoplastic cast that they mould onto your hand. I had to go to a specialist because they were worried i might have needed surgery. I also needed some sort of cast because otherwise whenever I moved my thumb the tendon would pull on the bone prevent it from fusing. This also meant that even with the cast I couldn't shred with it because even just having the muscles go tense would pull on the tendon and prevent the chip from healing.

But that was a thumb injury and it was right down the bottom. Your injury might be very different as there are all sorts of different types of breaks.

I'd suggest going to a specialist if it doesn't seem to improve - a week at footbag camp shouldn't do too much harm - I didn't get mine x-rayed for a few weeks because I thought I just dislocated it - in fact I had a thumb wrestle with a friend who also hurt his thumb and thought it was just a sprain - it was only after his turned out to be a break that I went and checked mine out.

crazylegs32 · Post by **crazylegs32** » 07 Jan 2008 23:59

next time pull your finger out the butt slowly and it wont get broken.

PegLegHolly · Post by **PegLegHolly** » 08 Jan 2008 13:21

crazylegs32 wrote:next time pull your finger out the butt slowly and it wont get broken.

from a man with experience