Do I have a busted, fractured or broken knuckle?!


Question: About a couple of years ago I tried to beat up a wall. Unfortunately I did not win this fight. Anyways, the next several days my pinkie knuckle was bruised and a bit swollen, but nothing that really concerned me much. I just expected it to heal perfectly in time. Unfortunately, it did not completely heal. When I open my hand now as wide as I can, my pinkie knuckle will still hurt a little bit, not much, but there is some discomfort that I do not feel with my other pinkie knuckle when I do this. Also, when I open up my hand, right above the messed up pinkie knuckle I'll see these thick folds on the skin, This is not the case with my good pinkie knuckle. I never thought of going to the doctor as I've always expected it to heal completely and I don't have insurance right now so going to the doctor for this isn't really on my immediate to do list. Could anyone please let me know what's wrong with my pinkie knuckle and is there anything that I can do on my own to make it better?


Answers: About a couple of years ago I tried to beat up a wall. Unfortunately I did not win this fight. Anyways, the next several days my pinkie knuckle was bruised and a bit swollen, but nothing that really concerned me much. I just expected it to heal perfectly in time. Unfortunately, it did not completely heal. When I open my hand now as wide as I can, my pinkie knuckle will still hurt a little bit, not much, but there is some discomfort that I do not feel with my other pinkie knuckle when I do this. Also, when I open up my hand, right above the messed up pinkie knuckle I'll see these thick folds on the skin, This is not the case with my good pinkie knuckle. I never thought of going to the doctor as I've always expected it to heal completely and I don't have insurance right now so going to the doctor for this isn't really on my immediate to do list. Could anyone please let me know what's wrong with my pinkie knuckle and is there anything that I can do on my own to make it better?

You may well have had a boxer's or brawler's fracture of the little finger. It's the one most commonly broken when you hit an immovable object. And since it occured some years ago, at this point there isn't a thing that can likely be done about it. It has healed, though likely not as well as it could have done with proper treatment at the time. When you are more financially able, perhaps an orthopedic surgeon could look at it and make some suggestion- but I rather doubt there is much that can be done. They don't like to rebreak finger bones or mess with knuckles, because the additional damage done can really mess them up permanently. You will just have to live with the funny finger, and consider it a reminder as to why we shouldn't punch things. The fingers usually do lose.

Busted and broken both mean fractured. It could have been fractured. There is nothing that you can do about it now on your own. When you get the insurance, you may want to go to a doctor to have it checked out.

Just a wild guess. Probably got some scar tissue build up at the area of injury. Since it's been two years and your hand seems to be working ok, don't worry about. A hand surgeon might be able to help, but would be very expensive, and no guarantees.

Believe it or not there is a fracture called a "Boxers" fracture". This is a fracture of the 4th or 5th metacarpal in the hand. It was named this for someone who gets into a cheap bar fight and does not know how to throw a punch. It very well could be that you did indeed fracture your hand in this way. It could have been a hairline or incomplete fracture since you were still able to use your hand. If the bone broke completely you would have gone to the ER because the knuckle would not have worked at all. It could be that it did not heal well and you are left with what you got. Going to a doctor now makes little sense because it will not change. I would think the only remedy would be to take an X-ray and if the bone is out of alignment the only fix may be to re-break it.





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