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

[LouiseDoh]

Hi, I'm 10 days after my tendon release surgery and just had my stitches out. Inhave been doing lots of very painful OT and have 90% movement when I use my other hand to bend my finger but the unassisted movement is only about 30%. Is there anything you can recommend doing from your experience post surgery? Many thanks.

[gruntidge]

Well everyone i got caught up in a fight in a local lub tried to do the right thing and my little finger got shattered in 4 places on one joint nearest the knuckle. It all started last month but i had my op 3 days after the and needless to say... not enjoyable. Im now just over a month ago since it happened and im left with 3 screws permanently and little finger from middle joint to tip still pointing the wrong way. When making a fist (cant make fully) my little finger over laps the ring finger causing frustration. It dont look like my knuckle even exists anymore... i do try to pull the finger inwards to make a proper fist occasionally but this is only to stretch the joints. I dont yank it obviously just a little now and then. Im only 23 and as most of my life events use my hands feel bit lost in the world being a martial arts practicioner, gymnast and pianist aswel as archery and fishin for a hobby... iv been searchin all over web for recovery time for a wound such as this. But havent found much worth reading till this site showed up. All i wanna do now is focus on the OT which is annoying as its miles away....but atm do have alot of stiffness at times like cramp that just wont leave...the scar however healed nicely i dressed the stitches myself before having them removed i cleaned all the area properly. Then after the stitches were out after 24 hrs lightly washed it in a warm bath with a cotton bud... have to at this point recommend applying a little bit of savlon to area bout 3 times aday... really helped the dead/dry skin n nittin process fully healed in a wk... but i had read in an article that after broken fingers... swimming is a very gud way to regain mobility as the warm water loosens the muscles obviously but the repeated movement to swim against water is rated 13% faster recovery time so im guna check out sum swimmin soon. I dont recommend doin it OTT and deffo keep up with theropy but i hope my story can help someone else out there that feels lost for answers.... take care all.

[yeswecan537]

I had surgery 5 weeks ago on my middle finger. When taking off the splint my finger wouldn't move at all. My PT told me that I had tendon adhesion and that it will likely require another surgery to release the tendon.

I've been really depressed but the story of Walker15 in this thread inspired me to stick with the exercises, in spite of no noticeable improvements. This morning something happened while doing finger blocking exercises. Like everyday I was trying pretty hard to get my finger to bend and suddenly it did. I got a weird feeling like the one described by Walker15 and I gained more than 30% of movement in both the PIP and DIP joints. I'm still far from normal mobility but I think/hope it will be easier from here.

Since I was inspired to keep trying by this thread,  I also wanted to share my own story. I figure the reason that there was only one person successful in breaking the tendon adhesion in the thread is due to a failure bias. It seems to me that people who didn't succeed are far more likely to write about it on an internet forum than those who did. The ones who succeeded are probably out climbing :-)

I don't know if it's recommended but I was taking the exercises pretty seriously and pushing it quite hard with some pain.

Good luck everyone and never give up!

[Colnago_Rider]

You will need tenolysis surgery to free the tendons so you can actively bend PIP.

[SFAS]

I had a crush injury under a roller on my right hand in which my ring and little finger were fractured and the palm of my hand was wounded and got torn from one side near the thumb as it was compressed and the red flesh came out of the wound. Both the fingers were fractured at the middle phalanx. While the ring finger was fractured at two points, the other one just below pip.
Within 24 hrs I was operated and splinted. Due to the depth of the wound they first focussed on it and let the fingers as it were.
4 weeks after the injury when the wound healed a little, they removed the splint and put cast on my fingers. Regular physiotherapy was carried out for 6 weeks. After a few weeks xray showed that the ring finger was not aligned straight at the fracture just below PIP. The upper part was just a little elevated there and it got fixed there as it was healed. Moreover the ring finger cant bend at PIP and almost no active moment there, however passive range of motion is full making finger fully bent at that joint.
Now it is been 8 months to the injury the condition is same.
Any advice?

[Colnago_Rider]

Yeh, I dunno pal. I was optimistic cause you had kwire, but doenst sound like it was set properly. Did they xray your finger after setting the k wire?

will you be casted again? how long? can you have your dip exposed so you can have some tendon glide at least while PIP is immobilized?

You're in very dangerous territory right now. I'd ask the odds of regaining full ROM on the pinky. My bet would be you have this surgery, they immobilize you, then in 4 weeks or so, when you get it taken off, you're stiff as a board. Unless this plate is going to allow for immediate ROM. If thats the case, then thats good. If its not, well, read above and draw your own possible conclusion. My gut says you'll need a third tenolysis surgery about 3 months after your next surgery if you can't get ROM immediately after this. IF you can - it will be really painful cause you'll have incisions.