Conditions and injuries of the finger, hand, wrist, forearm and elbow: what they are, how they behave, and when they stop being minor.
A hard, pea-sized lump at the base of a finger that hurts when you grip and doesn’t slide when the finger bends is usually a seed ganglion. Harmless, often settles on its own, and padding or a needle usually sorts the pain.
Hand osteoarthritis wears three specific places: the end and middle finger joints and the thumb base. There’s no cure, but pain usually settles in phases, and heat, movement, smarter tools and flare splints keep the hand working.
Hand swelling after an injury or surgery peaks at 48 to 72 hours and mostly settles over 2 to 6 weeks. How to bring it down, and why swelling left sitting for 3 weeks turns into stiffness.
Hypothenar hammer syndrome is ulnar artery damage in the heel of the palm from using the hand as a hammer: cold, color-changing ring and little fingers in one hand, thumb normal. How it’s diagnosed, treated and how long recovery takes.
Hand-arm vibration syndrome is nerve and blood vessel damage from years of vibrating tools: white fingers in the cold, numbness, clumsiness. Early stages can partly improve once exposure is cut; advanced HAVS is permanent.
Forearm pain that keeps climbing after a fracture, crush or tight cast, with a hard forearm and agony when the fingers are straightened, is compartment syndrome until proven otherwise. Go to the ER now: muscle starts dying within hours.
Numbness on the back of the thumb with completely normal strength points to Wartenberg’s syndrome, a pinched sensory branch of the radial nerve. Most cases settle in 6 weeks to 6 months once the watch or strap comes off.
A perilunate dislocation needs the ER the same day and surgery within about a week, yet around a quarter are missed because the front-on X-ray looks almost normal. Expect 8 to 12 weeks in a cast and 6 to 12 months of recovery.
A mucous cyst is a small fluid-filled bump on the end finger joint, caused by arthritis underneath, and it often grooves the nail. Don’t pop it: surgery that removes the cyst and the bone spur is the fix that usually holds.
A sprained finger collateral ligament usually stops hurting in 3 to 6 weeks, is sport-ready by about 3 months, and stays swollen for 6 to 12 months. Buddy tape and early movement beat a rigid splint.