A bruised finger

A finger bruise is such a common injury that many people sometimes do not pay attention to it. However, fingers are a concentration of many nerve endings. Almost everything in the human body is permeated with blood vessels and nerve tissue. Some nerve endings are responsible for sensory sensitivity, thanks to which a person is able to feel not only cold or heat, but also pain and pleasure. There are nerve endings that are responsible for motor skills, they conduct an impulse through muscle tissue and provoke them to relax or contract. Both of these groups work synchronously, harmoniously.

An example is a prick with a needle or a pin. The pain from a microtrauma is instantly transmitted along the nerve endings responsible for sensorics to the spinal cord, to the motor nerve endings. From there, a signal is sent to the muscles, causing them to contract, the hand reflexively moves away from the needle. This entire process takes a few seconds. The tips of the fingers and toes are especially sensitive in this sense, so a finger bruise is not as simple and safe as it may seem at first glance. Even minor finger injuries can significantly reduce the quality of a person's physical activity and affect his general condition.

A finger bruise rightfully takes the leading position among all other injuries to the arms and legs; dislocations and fractures of the fingers are much less common in surgical practice. A bruise is an injury without damage to the skin, thus, soft tissue and subcutaneous tissue are damaged. Since there is very little soft tissue in the fingers, a bruise injures the subcutaneous tissue, nerve endings and often the bones of the fingers.

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How does a finger bruise manifest itself?

A bruise that can be considered minor is manifested by pain, swelling of the finger and often a hematoma. A bruise can develop both over the entire tip of the finger and under the nail. A bruise of the toe is especially unpleasant, since severe pain and swelling make it difficult to move. If the finger is bruised on the distal or nail phalanx, hemorrhage into the joint cavity is possible. It is impossible to differentiate a bruise from a fracture by pain symptoms, the pain is equally intense. However, with a bruise, motor activity is preserved, although it causes pain. With a fracture, the swelling is much more intense, and finger movement is almost impossible. In addition, a bruised finger is not accompanied by their unusual position, eversion or atypical tilt, as is the case with fractures or dislocations. Also, with fractures, a characteristic sound is heard - crepitation, which is made by injured bones.

What to do if you have a bruised finger?

First aid is standard for all types of bruises - immobilization, cold for 10-12 hours and a tight bandage. The same should be done in cases of finger bruises. Ice, a cold compress, a bottle or a closed container with ice water will do as cold. A compressive, tight bandage should be applied to the finger to limit the spread of bleeding under the skin and stop swelling. It is necessary to ensure that the bandage does not stop the general blood supply to the finger, that is, it should not be tightened too tightly.

How to treat a bruised finger?

If the bruise is diagnosed or determined independently as very severe, in addition to cold and a bandage, you can take a painkiller, preferably from the NSAID group - non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. This can be diclofenac, ibuprofen or orthofen. Ketanov or ketoral relieve pain well for several hours. After 10-12 hours, when cold compresses are no longer relevant, the finger bruise can be treated with special ointments or gels, among which diclofenac gel, diclac gel, dolobene, indomethacin ointment are effective. These external agents will help relieve internal inflammation, activate blood flow in the capillaries of the subcutaneous tissue, reducing swelling. As a rule, a finger bruise goes away on its own after 7-10 days and you can finally forget about it in two weeks.

It should be noted that a finger bruise can be treated faster than a toe injury. If a finger on the lower limb is bruised, you should apply a cold compress, a tight bandage, and slightly raise the leg, as in all situations with bruises. It is more convenient to do this while in a horizontal position. A raised leg prevents swelling from spreading and helps the blood flow away from the finger.

Use of folk remedies

A simple compress of boiled potatoes in their skins gives a good anti-edematous effect. The potatoes need to be boiled, then mashed with a fork, cooled a little so that they are not too hot. Wrap the mass in gauze and apply to the bruised area. The compress should be kept for at least four hours, then it can be replaced with a fresher one. As a rule, three potatoes are used to neutralize swelling. If the nail is injured and a hematoma develops under it, the potato is not applied to it. The nail plate should be covered with an iodine mesh applied with a stick or a match.

In addition to potatoes or iodine, which can be applied in the form of a grid to the entire surface of the bruise, calendula infusion relieves inflammation and swelling well. A compress is soaked in it and applied for two to three hours. The bandage can be covered with a film on top. It should be taken into account that all warming procedures, including both potato and calendula compresses.

They help only on the second day after the injury. The first day should be devoted to cold, which must be changed every hour and a half, so that cold compresses do not turn into warming ones.

A finger bruise that has been bothering you for more than a week and is accompanied by persistent swelling should be shown to a traumatologist. It is possible that in addition to the bruise, there is also a fracture or dislocation, and hemarthrosis is also dangerous - blood accumulation in the joint cavity. In such situations, it is better to spend time and consult a doctor than to treat the finger joint for a long time.