About a week ago I was cutting wood and tried to break a little branch off a piece of firewood by punching it with my big insulated work gloves, missed it with the two big strong knuckles forcing the little ring finger to take all the force. It swelled up with a pronounced bump in the location of the red circle in the picture, and my palm turned black and blue.
Of course I have no insurance, but I do have a friend that is an oral surgeon and he took a picture. His printer was running out of ink so it's not the greatest, but I couldn't argue with free. The picture kind of shows a possible break, now my questions are:
1. Is this a likely way for that bone to break for my actions? I hit it very hard, confident the branch would break -it didn't.
2. Supposing the bone is broken there, is it possible for it to heal satisfactorily without a cast? I have been very gentle with it, only putting the lightest of pressure on the other fingers.
3. How long should I baby it? When should it be ready for say, bike riding?
I know getting blood and nutrients to it is important, so I haven't lightened up on my usual schedule of running and cycling on my indoor trainer.
Thank you for your time
christian
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