As some of you may recall, I severely fractured my index finger on Thanksgiving night. This wasn’t a matter of a mere crack in a bone. This was me unintentionally turning the base of the most important finger (aside from my opposable thumb) on my right hand (and I am a righty) into a jigsaw puzzle with a wide selection of tiny little pieces. I’ve since learned from my hand surgeon and physical therapist that neither expected me to recover so quickly to the point where I am now. In short, I’ve made great strides in a short amount of time. For this, I am truly grateful.
Not long after the fracture, I had surgery on my hand to reduce the fracture and realign the pieces of bone in a manner as close as possible to their original alignment. The hand surgeon (Dr. Atef Mohty in Scottsdale, who I highly recommend) did the reduction with my finger closed, meaning he did not cut me open. His reasoning for this was because opening my finger near the point of fracture would have been “like opening a beehive” (his exact words). The fracture was reduced, the finger was aligned, and the joint was pinned. I then had a cast for a week and a hard custom splint for three more weeks, to be followed by weeks of physical therapy.
Anyway, I recently stumbled upon these two videos from the day of my surgery. Who else would egg someone on to film them on the day of their first ever surgery? Yeah, I know I’m a bit strange. But I do my best to live like an open book.
Video #1: Pretty low-key and tongue-in-cheek for a guy about to go under anesthesia for the first time, for a severely shattered index finger… eh? And, as you hear me note on the video, the image is flipped. Trust me, that was (and is) my right hand.
Video #2: Speaking of low-key, I don’t even remember this. Viva la anesthesia! Here’s a guy having a positive attitude after not only being sedated for surgery, but having his already severely-fractured finger re-broken on purpose on the operating table. That’s right. Did I forget to mention he had to break it again in order to realign it correctly? Opiates what?
Hi Shane
i ma just looking around for stories about finger recovery.
3 years ago i broke my 4th right hand finger in the PIP joint area.
Unfortunately after 2 surgeries the damages were so big that no effect has been reached.
Now the finger is stiff and has like 20% of its primal funtion..
Unfortunately the story goes more far.
Saturday the 17th of May this year i went playing basketball. and… broke my right hand middle finger the same way! i could not believe it because in 2weeks i was about to travel to the usa due to the fact i got a job at amazon in poland and it requires 2months training in Tennessee.
I am now desperate to look for motivation what can be done to have at least the middle finger saved.
You wrote that You regain 95% of function… maybe You can share some rehab info, excercises… will be very thankful for any information.
Piotr from Poland
Piotr,
Sorry to hear about your finger. I would highly suggest talking to a professional physical therapist regarding the best rehab exercises (including frequency and timing) for your particular fracture. I don’t want to give you a suggestion and have it be incorrect, as it could actually make things worse for you.
The exercises I did were for a different fracture (proximal phalanx in my index finger), but involved isolating certain portions of the finger and working flexibility by bending and straightening my finger at each segment (tip, middle knuckle, bottom knuckle).
Do you have access to a physician or physical therapist?