Hand injuries are a frequent phenomenon, especially if a person leads an active lifestyle, is fond of sports or one of the types of martial arts. If the victim has knocked out a finger, he needs to be provided with proper medical care, including a number of therapeutic measures.
It's important to know
A knocked out finger on a hand should not be self-medicated. This is fraught with serious consequences, up to improper fusion and possible subsequent surgical intervention. Such injuries are often complemented by torn ligaments, complex dislocations or painful fractures. In such a situation, the patient must be given all the necessary first aid, and then immediately deliver it to the nearest medical facility.
Causes of injury
Hands are often injured. Of the main reasons, the following can be distinguished:
- household trauma - often occurs due to the usual carelessness, if a person knocked out a finger, unsuccessfully grabbing the door handle, falling incorrectly on his hand or any other active homework;
- sports - here it will be appropriate to mention any sports, they are all very active, often lead to collisions, possible dislocations and bruises;
- the consequences of a previous injury - people who have already had a finger knocked out should double-take care of themselves, such an injury increases the risk of a recurrence of the situation in the future;
- bad habit of snapping fingers - sooner or later leads to displacement.
Dislocation of the finger is always a serious inconvenience that impedes normal daily activity and significantly reduces the usual comfortable standard of living.
Main symptoms
The index, thumb and ring fingers in a similar situation suffer most often. They take an especially active part in human life and receive the most serious load. If the victim complains that he has knocked out a finger, the symptoms of subluxation or dislocation should be determined by the following indicators:
- Pain - it can be of varying degrees of intensity, manifested when you try to move, when touching or in a state of rest. The intensity of pain can also vary, often their pulsation is expressed quite sharply.
- Mobility - after the first minutes, when the shock state is replaced by pain, it becomes difficult. Even a slight movement leads to a number of unpleasant sensations that prevent it.
- Edema - often a swelling appears immediately, with injuries of varying degrees of complexity, it can develop gradually, eventually capturing not only a knocked out finger on the arm, but the entire palm.
- Deformation is a clear sign of dislocation, indicating the severity of the situation, such an unnatural situation causes acute pain and requires the immediate use of analgesics and contact a specialist traumatologist.
Additionally, a temporary decrease in sensitivity may occur due to serious soft tissue bruising. The skin in this area becomes pale due to insufficient blood supply, the fingertips are numb.
First aid
What to do if knocked out a finger? First of all, it is important not to harm yourself or the victim even more. Attempts to independently return the joint to its original position can end in failure. This indiscretion can cause a serious open fracture or painful rupture of the ligaments. The correct sequence of first aid in such situations will be as follows:
- Remove the rings, if any, from the affected finger and all adjacent to it.
- Immediately apply ice, if it wasn’t nearby, an ordinary plastic bag filled with water, products from the freezer, or a towel thoroughly moistened under a tap will do just fine.
- The hand should be held vertically up, if it is difficult for the victim to do this on their own, you can make a fixing bandage from improvised material (scarf, belt).
- Analgesics will help to moderate pain, and finger mobility can be eliminated by applying a splint. The dressing is applied weakly, completely eliminating the possible pressure on this area.
- After all of the above actions, the victim should be taken to a medical institution, where a specialist will conduct a quality examination and prescribe further treatment.
Follow-up care
To determine how seriously the patient knocked out a finger, the doctor will definitely send him for an X-ray. Depending on the degree of damage detected, a specific therapeutic course is prescribed. Treatment can be carried out both in stationary and at home, more often it does not take much time and leads to the rapid restoration of the damaged joint.
- The first few days continue to apply cold until the edema is completely eliminated.
- The following is an ointment with an absorbable and anti-inflammatory effect, if there is pronounced pain, an additional temporary administration of analgesics is prescribed.
The doctor will definitely recommend, if possible, to limit movement in this area, use a tight bandage and minimize stress.