Well there goes the tigger-gram career...
The initial problems were a very swollen knuckle, unable to weight it when climbing and unable to bend it to touch my palm
it apparently actively stops the bone matrix from healing (vaguely remember there's some SCIENCE in the BMJ) and also stops the pain so that you can't feel the cracks opening and closing when you load them, which makes them grow. Which hurts, so you take more pills, so they stop healing etc...
Quote from: AdamD on February 14, 2012, 12:21:07 pmThe initial problems were a very swollen knuckle, unable to weight it when climbing and unable to bend it to touch my palmThink I will try and get an x-ray, to see if that tells me anything but am hopefuly mine isn't this or if it is isn't that bad, my knuckle isnt noticeably swollen, I can touch my palm, just not the base of my finger as I can with the others and I can weight it as much as any of my other fingers, plus it seems to get better pretty quickly, I would just like it to stay better/know what it is so I can ignore it. I have ordered some of these http://www.thermosonline.co.uk/products/Thermos-Flexi-Ice-Mat-Minis-Pack-3/Cool-Bags---Ice/products/4322.htm so am hoping they will allow me to ice the individual finger more easily, which will make me actually do it!I am presuming there is some other explanation for these swollen knuckles as it seems many climbers have some sort of similar issue, two of my friends can no longer touch any of their fingertips to the base of their fingers. Or maybe we all just get stress fractures but most of us ignore them?
One other thing I forgot to mention is that massaging the finger does seem to help a lot in reducing acute pain (in the short term), should that be of importance...
If your middle knuckle hurts and is swollen much of the time, you may have a stress fracture.
Managed to self-diagnose my massive left middle-finger PIP as having a stress fracture through the wisdom of UKB...What is meant by "inflammatory foods" in rocksteady's post?
After thinking it had healed, I think I've refractured my stress fracture. Is topical diclofenac a good idea or not?
Andy, go and get seen by someone who knows. I thought I had self-diagnosed some kind of DIP joint stress-fracture of capsule problem. Turns out it was neither, Phil Mack Physio in Edinburgh diagnosed as extensor tendon tendinosis. Treat has been ongoing 4 weeks (massage, laser, dry needling, climbing, eccentric loading) massive improvement, back climbing now and nearly pain free, also, the tendon itself is smooth and reduced in size (it was all fibrous and fat before (not swollen).Go See Someone!