About two months ago I caught a basketball square on the tip of my left pinkie -- typical kind of finger jam that happens all the time. The next day it was swollen, painful and wouldn't bend. I went to the Immediate Care and they took an x-ray and found nothing broken, but definite tendon damage. Sent me to a hand specialist.

He put it in a little plastic cast for two weeks. He told me that with these kind of injuries, there isn't much you can do to make it better, but there's a whole lot you can do to make it worse.

You should probably get it looked at.

If you don't want to bother with that, at least put a splint on to keep the tendon in place while it heals. Also, you can "buddy wrap" it to the finger next to it to give it extra stability/support.

Mine is still not back to normal. The doc says three months is a fast heal for this and six is not uncommon.

FYI. :)

I remember your post about the hoops injury. I'm probably in the same boat of "no break, but some damage". And these things take *forever* to heal, especially for those of us who are older (I'm 44).

My wife did an "evulsion" (tendon pulls piece of bone off rest of bone - ouch) on two fingers on her left hand last October at the US Footy Nationals and she still hasn't completely healed. This getting older stuff stinks!

My wife is also a doctor, so I'll have her look at it tonight. I might end up going the route of a splint or something while it heals. Which would be tough, as my job consists of sitting and typing all day.

now it's back to the ice and advil.

Thanks for the info!

Good to have a doc in the house! And good luck with the finger!