Conditions and injuries of the finger, hand, wrist, forearm and elbow: what they are, how they behave, and when they stop being minor.
Pickleball injures the arm two ways: falls that fracture wrists, and overuse like pickleball elbow and wrist tendon pain. Most overuse settles in 6 to 12 weeks with grip and volume changes; a wrist still sore a week after a fall needs re-imaging.
Most general overuse hand pain settles within 6 to 12 weeks when you lower the peak load and rebuild tolerance, not when you rest it. What to rule out first, and the exercises that work.
An enchondroma is a benign cartilage growth inside a finger or hand bone. Most need only a repeat X-ray; a large, painful or fractured one is treated with curettage and bone graft, with full use back over roughly 3 to 6 months.
A giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath is a benign, firm, slowly growing finger lump, the second most common hand lump after a ganglion. Surgical removal is the definitive treatment, most people regain full grip by about 12 weeks, and it can recur.
Full recovery after a finger reattachment takes 12 to 24 months, with hand therapy from the first week or two. The phase-by-phase rehab, when feeling and movement return, and when you can work and drive again.
Most people are splinted for 3 to 4 weeks after a tendon transfer, retrain the new movement from week 4, and return to heavier work between 3 and 6 months. Here is the rehab, week by week, and why the brain is the slow part.
Pain on the point of the elbow that hurts when you push, not grip, is usually triceps tendinopathy. Most settle in 6 to 12 weeks with graded loading, not rest; here’s how to tell it from bursitis or a tear.
After a crush injury the bones usually heal in 6 to 12 weeks, but swelling decides the outcome and can take 3 to 6 months to settle. The first 48 hours, the warning signs, and how to stop the hand setting stiff.
Most finger extensor tendon injuries heal in a splint worn continuously for 6 to 8 weeks, but the deadline to start is days to two weeks. The zones, the tests, the healing timeline and the knuckle wound that’s an emergency.
A cut flexor tendon does not heal on its own. If a finger joint won’t bend after a cut, see a hand surgeon within days: the repair window is about 2 weeks, followed by about 6 weeks in a splint.