This involves the crack or splinter of any of the three bones that make up your finger. You may not always be sure if your finger is broken, but there’s some clear signs and self tests that you can try to test it. Yes it’s painful if you fracture your finger, but usually you’ll still be able to move it. Pain is rarely a diagnosing factor. Don’t be fooled if you can still move the finger – this does not mean the finger is not broken. Fractures come in all shapes and sizes, from burst fractures like slamming your finger in a door to smaller cracks in the tip of your finger causes severe pain, but more importantly long term complications if not treated correctly.

A Broken finger is very commonly left untreated, but it causes a number of problems in the future because of stiffness and the inability to use your hand normally. It is very important that a broken finger heals in the correct position to prevent deformity and early aging of the joints in your hand. Avoid being anxious to shaking someone’s hand, just get it fixed & you’ve got nothing to worry about.

You may not always be sure if your finger is broken. If it’s broken and you try to bend it, it will be painful, but you’ll still be able to move it. Don’t be fooled if you can still move your finger, this does not mean the finger is not broken. Swelling tends to stabilize the fracture site, and lessen the pain during movement. Be careful, as this swelling subsides your pain may get worse.

Try bending your finger, if there is a specific point that’s very tender or produces a sharp pain, it may be the site of a crack or break in the bone.

Bone position

• A hairline crack in the bone, that doesn’t split apart more than 3 mm is a stable finger fracture, but may heal slowly if not treated correctly, causing pain with light pressure like typing and texting.
• In a non-displaced or stable fracture, the bone breaks completely but doesn’t move apart.
• In a displaced or unstable fracture, the bone breaks into separate pieces that move and no longer line up.
• A comminuted fracture consists of three or more bone pieces, scattered around and doesn’t resemble the original form or shape of the bone. Also called a burst fracture, where the pieces of bone looks like broken glass on X-ray. This is usually from a high impact force that shatters and crushes the bone at the same time.
• A Spiral fracture snaps the bone under twisting and turning forces.

We are experienced in testing the different types of problems that can cause your finger pain. Our specialists use a variety of joint mobilizations to determine the extent of the damage, not only the bone, but the surrounding soft tissue like ligaments, tendons, muscles and joints. We mainly test the two components of your finger bones, the first involves movement testing and we develop a certain dexterity to identify a fracture. The second involves testing bone stability and integrity.

If your tests prove that we suspect that you may have a finger fracture, we must do further investigation, the first on the list will be X-rays.

A fracture of your finger bone normally heal between 6-9 weeks. If however the bone is not protected it can grow back in the wrong place or change the shape of your finger. This leads to a deformity with continuous pain, discomfort, lack of movement and grip strength. Ignoring a broken finger alters movement patterns and leaves you in pain, because the stability that the bone provides is absent.

Although the bone can grow back by itself, it is important to protect the bone using a splint or cast to preserve the correct position. We talk about a malunion when the bone grows back but not in its original shape. You may be left with a disfigured hand.

Sometimes the bone does not join (due to many factors), this is called a nonunion. In these cases surgery will most likely be required to connect the ends of the bone to ensure that healing happens.

If your pain remains the same, or progressively gets worse and more frequent you may be at higher risk of developing complications. Rather get an expert’s guidance and consult a professional.

The highest priority in a broken finger is the splintered bone. There’s guaranteed soft tissue damage surrounding the fracture site like bone that pierces muscles, tendons and ligaments. Volar plate tears regularly accompanies a finger fracture. The most obvious damage is to the bone, but the foundation of soft tissues rely on a stable anchor, the broken bone dismantles this stability.

Your fingers contains the highest concentration of nerve endings. A finger fracture can compromise nerves resulting in the sensory receptors in your fingers to lose sensitivity and sacrifice dexterity. This leaves you clumsy and uncoordinated.

Intra-articular fractures extend into the joint space between two finger bones. These types of fractures are more complex, pain lingers and takes much longer to recover as it involves the finger joint.

Malunion

This is when the bone grows back in the wrong position. This causes movement problems because the bone’s position is out of its normal alignment. Splinting the finger in the wrong position leaves your finger deformed and further reduces the power and mobility of your finger.

Remember that pressure from the swelling around the finger fracture keeps the fracture site stable. As the swelling gradually subsides, the broken segments are more vulnerable to move apart. This delays healing or even causes further separation of the fractured pieces.

Non-union

This is when the bone doesn’t join together at all, and the separate pieces grind and scratch against each other every time you move your finger. You can just imagine the world of problems that you can get into if this happens.

Generic braces can separate the fractured segments even more. They can even put undue pressure onto the fracture site, causing more problems than solutions. So be careful. Our braces offer direction specific and angular reinforcement to reduce the risk of complications.

Returning to sport too early may risk putting the finger bone under stress increasing the likelihood to impede bone healing.

Our experts are the best to test and diagnose your finger fracture. We even assess the integrity of all the surrounding tissue like muscles, tendons, pulleys, volar plate and ligaments. Our practitioners use the latest technology and techniques that’s proven to work. These finger fracture treatments include splinting, compression garments, laser, cupping, and furthermore to monitor your progress and recovery. Making sure you’re safe.

Splinting – A custom splint made and tailored for your finger, to allow optimal healing and ensure the bone re-attaches in the correct position. A splint or brace is a compulsory treatment for a broken finger.

Passive Exercises – Small oscillating mobilizations to maintain movement of all the non-affected joints and regain articular mobility.

Active exercises – Isometric, Eccentric and concentric contractions in a controlled loading program to regain and strengthen the muscles. Breaking down the fear of movement and avoid stiffness from a broken finger.

Tendon gliding techniques – Recover the slide of the tendon along it’s axis through it’s sheath. This treatment is crucial after a broken finger to restore grip strength.

Callus tissue formation – to guide and prevent any abnormal bone formation. Follow up X-rays is ideal when you have completed your finger fracture treatment program.

Sensory retraining – Many broken fingers involve a component of nerve re-training and pain modulation to recondition the nerve endings. This works on the sensory cortex pain perception model.

Rehabilitation Phase: (Week 7-8)

• Terminating the use of the splint.
• Confirm callus formation and bone regrowth.
• We aim to achieve sensory retraining and avoiding hypersensitivity.
• At the end of this period you must achieve 80% of normal range of motion and 50-75% of normal grip strength.

• Finger fracture
• Distal phalanx fracture
• Middle phalanx fracture
• Proximal phalanx fracture

• Finger dislocation
• Trigger finger
• Finger pain
• Mallet finger
• Tendinitis in the finger
• Dupuytren’s contracture