Broken Pinky Finger - Post Surgery Stiffness

[imq]

I had surgery done on my broken pinky finger on January 1, 2008, which I broke while playing football, and I was in the cast for 6 weeks after that. After the cast came out, the doctor told me to go to therapy for 6 weeks/ 2 times a week to get rid of the stiffness in the finger. Now it is May 5th, 2008 and I have 2 more weeks of therapy left but still the finger is a little stiff. I can bend it but not fully and in terms of going back up it doesn't move at all.

The therapist has told me that doctor's could do another surgery to loosen up the tendons but I will wait to ask a doctor until my therapy is done.

The questions that I had is:

1) What are the chances that I can still gain full momentum in my pinky finger?
2) If I am not able to get the stiffness out, can anyone tell about the surgery the therapist was talking about?

Greatly appreciate your help.

Thanks

[BigMoneyTX]

broke finger in january. saw a orthopedic surgeon who was also a family friend (every dr was busy, so thats why we saw family friend. he fit us into his already busy schedule) fractured my pinky right about the MIP, in a soccer game. brought to ground then kicked in hand. really sucked. anyways we casted me. it set didnt set right. so in march, he rebroke it, and put in a plate. worked on flexion but couldnt get any tension. so mid June, he took out my plate. i have better flexion and extension, but only Passive ROM. bout to schedule some OT, as there isnt a hand therapist in the area. Saw dr yesterday. he said it wouldnt be back to 100 flextion unfortunately, but we have to go as far as we can before it freezes up. it really ***** that my pinky is pretty much useless and always sticks out and cant even make a fist. he said we have no restrictions on therapy and everything. to go as hard as tolerable on my stretching. Hoping i can be one of the rare cases that proves the dr wrong. cause i play guitar and drums. and well this pinky pretty much ruins those hobbies

[Ma55rk]

If anyone is reading this and is about to get surgery, don't!
The finger is very complicated to operate on due to its size and many tendons.
Check out some videos on YouTube, see for yourself.

I have a severly broken 5th middle phalanx and metacarpal, little finger. Doctors said surgery is the only way with pins and plates.

I refused and went to a specialist, his only other option was traction, very painful but he said if it was his finger he would do the same. Now it's been 8 weeks and its healing well and starting Physio its still a little stiff but probably have full movement back in a week hopefully.

So look for other options beacuse I believe there is too many things that can go wrong with surgery. I'm not against it, I mean in some cases it's probably even better for quicker recovery.
But my girlfriend is into all that healing naturally stuff and if anything went wrong with surgery I wouldn't of heard the end of it.

[relllik]

I broke my pinky playing flag football on 4/27/13. I had surgery on 5/7 and came out of the cast on 5/25. The doctor gave me a referral for 6 weeks(2-3 times a week) of occupational therapy. This is where the problems begin. The doctor sent me to the occupational therapist in his same facility, but they didn't take my insurance.  I had a hard time finding an occupational therapist off of my insurance website. Everytime i called the doctors would say they didn't the insurance.

Then i started walking around the neighborhood to find doctors and again i was met with the same issue. At one doctor's office they said could call my doctor and switch the referral to physical therapy instead of occupational therapy but i declined because i felt the doctor was trying to get over on me.

With a work day that doesn;t end until 6 and then picking up children and supervising them at football practice, it;s not a month since the cast was taken off and i haven;t had a day of occupational  therapy. Now that im off for the summer i call my insurance and find out that I'm only covered for in home occupational therapy.

I can bend my pinky halfway down at the front and middle joints and then it all gets stiff.

I hope i can actually use my pinky again. I have  Some questions I hope you guy can help me out with:

Is physical therapy as good as occupational therpy?
What do you think my chances are of being able to make a fist again or hold a  baseball bat?
Are there any exercises i can do at home to help me regain motion?

[mistyr75]

I am going through something similar I have had many surgeries at johns Hopkins, I am worse, no use of my hand and feel very afraid, and no hope I have been dealing with this since December 18 2012 and had another surgery on may 24 my hand is worse, I broke only my ring finger but have not been able to move my pinky or ring or middle in 6 months

[Lorotiris]

I dont know if my pink finger was broke or deslocated and its been 12 years, since then my pinky never been straight anymore, i know is been many years but when i try to pull hard and its still hurts. right now i dont know what to do, maybe surgery or something?  help please and sorry my english.

[adi04]

hey guys,
i dislocated my index finger recently.. for which it had to be operated.It was the joint at the knuckle.. after surgery my finger was kept bent for 3 weeks in a cast.. well not a cast,more like a bandage that didnt permit movement.. the doctor removed it today(after 3 weeks).. the finger was swollen and wasnt moving at all..now it moves very slightly.. i was told to try and bend it a bit at home.. im going to start physiotherapy after 2 days.. but the posts here really got me worried.. how much should i force my finger to bend.. will too muhc motion be bad.. should i apply ice for the swelling.. and what are the chances of getting back normal range of motion..
its my right hand so im worried.. please reply.. thanks