Conditions & Injuries

Nails grow 3mm a month, so today’s ridge records last month’s event. What each common change means, what to expect after a nail bed injury, and the one streak that needs seeing.

The burn is the short story; the contracture is the long one. Why depth predicts scarring, what 20 minutes of cool water changes, and why the splint position feels wrong on purpose.

A ring that catches while you fall strips the finger’s skin and the arteries with it. Why the wound looks trivial, what to do in the first hour, and why silicone rings exist.

Cellulitis hurts to touch but the finger still bends. Septic arthritis makes any movement agony and destroys cartilage in days. How to tell them apart, and the gout imposter.

Bendy joints hurt because they rest at end range on ligament rather than muscle. Why stretching makes it worse, what ring splints do, and the mid-range control that fixes it.

It takes the end joints rheumatoid spares, swells whole fingers like sausages, and pits the nails. How to tell it apart, and why the treatment window is measured in months.

Both numb your hands. The four differences that separate them — and why asking about the feet is the most useful question in the consultation.

Compression before the nerves reach the arm. Why arms overhead make it worse, how it differs from carpal and cubital tunnel, and the vascular version that needs seeing today.

Returning to work is a dosing problem, not a fitness verdict. Sort your job into four demands, climb a four-stage ladder, and ask for accommodations specific enough to be granted.

Trigger finger, Dupuytren’s, carpal tunnel and a stiff painless hand aren’t four unlucky coincidences in diabetes. They’re one collagen process — and the prayer sign finds it.