Gout in the fingers arrives overnight, peaks in a day, and looks identical to a joint infection. It also has two separate treatments that people constantly confuse: one ends the attack, the other ends the disease.
The dog bite that looks terrible is usually the least dangerous. A cat’s puncture and a small split over a knuckle from someone’s tooth are the two that reach joints and tendons, seal bacteria in, and cost people fingers.
An audible pop on a crimp, pain at the base of the ring finger, and a decision about crimping that will shape the next six months. Grades, timelines, and the bowstringing sign that changes everything.
Flexor repairs fail loudly by rupturing. Extensor repairs fail quietly, as a lag: the finger bends fine and just stops straightening all the way. A few millimeters of tendon length become permanent degrees. Here’s the weekly check that catches it.
No Dupuytren’s treatment cures the disease. Needle release buys a fast recovery and a shorter reprieve; open surgery costs months and buys longer. And the joint that’s bent decides your result more than the operation does.
Rheumatoid arthritis is your immune system attacking your joint linings, not wear and tear. Morning stiffness over an hour, big knuckles and wrists, both hands, feeling unwell. Early medication protects the joints; late medication can’t rebuild them.
Flexor tendon repair rehab sits between two failures: move it too little and the tendon glues to its sheath, too hard and the repair ruptures. The repair is weakest around week 3, which is exactly when the hand starts feeling fine. Here’s why every rule exists.
Boutonnière deformity is the central slip tearing off the middle knuckle. On day one the finger looks almost normal, and the deformity develops over the next one to three weeks while it’s being treated as a jam. Here’s the test that catches it before it bends.
A stiff hand after a cast or surgery is normal, but stiffness has a clock. Early stiffness is wet cement, old stiffness is set concrete. Here’s how to tell whether the block is joint, tendon or the small muscles inside your hand, and why time at end range beats pulling harder.
The middle knuckle is the most commonly injured joint in the hand, and the swelling after a sprain or dislocation lasts 6 to 12 months. That’s normal. What isn’t normal, and what ruins these fingers, is resting them still.