Broken finger - follow up needed?

Ref work: depends what you do. I am office based so no problem working with a strapped finger.

Ref follow up: definitely. The hospital discharged me with no follow up after I 'missed' the follow up. My finger healed poorly which still causes pain. A follow up may not have prevented this, but then it might have.

Cool, thanks. I'm a teacher so not exactly strenuous. Will try the GP tomorrow for a referral (popped in on Friday but it has to be a phonecall in the morning). Cheers.

There should be a follow up to assess healing and if there has been any soft tissue damage that would be difficult to pick up as it would be too painful to test for at the time.

Also, hand injuries can be a weird one. I had what I thought was a minor break in a finger and was told it could have required a full scale operation (volar plate).

If the medical staff say "get a referral to the fracture clinic", why on earth would you listen to Dr "I once watched an episode of Holby City" STW instead?

I've broken loads over the years playing in goal and being a wicket keeper and they pretty well all healed just fine.

Then I had what seemed like a simple break but without proper rehab now have a mallet finger that doesn't work.

So yep, get it seen.

Then I had what seemed like a simple break but without proper rehab now have a mallet finger that doesn’t work.

Pretty much the same here, but I escaped the mallet finger by a fraction and also avoided the little broken bit wandering into the joint.

Hand fractures are complex. Lots of little bones, little ligaments and little tendons. There's a lot going on and impaired dexterity is not something to live with unnecessarily.

Fracture clinic usually automatic, I thought. Is it because you were out of area?

If anyone starts talking about operating you really want a hand surgeon doing it rather than whichever hip surgeon is doing the trauma list the following day.

Yes, def. I smashed one of mine on an uplift many years ago, and when I saw the hand specialist his advice was always get a broken finger seen to as it’s so easy to mess up tendons and nerves in the long run and not realise especially if it doesn’t set well.

Is that a pinky?
Not sure there's much they can do. But that looks like it needs something to hold it straight.
I broke the knuckle of my pinky (classic punching injury) not strapped or splinted but was agony everytime I misjudged a pick up of something or put my hands in my pocket.

What’s the advice?

The fracture looks fairly uncomplicated and non-displaced, so unlikely to need surgery, but I'm not an ortho. You're already on the right pathway (you attend fracture clinic, they refer you to physio). Fingers are a lot more prone to stiffening up than other joints, it's frightening how fast it can happen sometimes, and they are also incredibly important for our interaction with the world, so make sure you attend your fracture clinic and physio

All good advice, thanks. Yes, out of area (England/Scotland). It's a spiral fracture which Dr Google says will heal in 3 to 4 weeks. Yes pinky. Had one of our Cubs do something similar on a weekend camp which we taped a stick to. Turned out his mum was a nurse and, fortunately, approved, except best advice is to strap it to the neighbouring finger. Now know that you avoid taping the joints, due to swelling.

All seems pretty straightforward in this case but will get it checked, if I can get through to the GP in the morning. If not will head to minor injuries here.

Just remembered I nearly ended up with a mallet finger after cutting through the tendon with a Swiss army knife on another camp. That was proper Terminator stuff when the surgeon cut open a flap in order to stitch it back together. Love the NHS.

Oh, and more than half the bones in your body are in your hands and feet. Might have learned that on here, still seems wild.

Slightly off topic, but someone mentioned wicket keepers. My mate was a first rate keeper - now his fingers point in all sorts of weird directions. That is sort of funny until you see him try to undo a fiddly packet, write something down or even use a debit card machine. He's 52 and will struggle with anything needing any fine motor skills as he gets older.

Mine are mainly straight, except for the mallet pinky above, but some don't close fully where the joints are knacked, and they are definitely lacking strength nowadays.

Way better than this guy though - Yorkshire league guy after 45 years of keeping

Might be worth ringing fracture clinic at your local hospital (call switch board, ask for fracture clinic and tell them your story) and see if they will accept you rather than getting GP involved. If the minor injuries place were not able to forward your images they will need repeats done.

Incidentally, this is one of the bits of the national NHS that works poorly- we see a lot of visitors in the ED I work in, and it is virtually impossible for me to refer to other areas’ fracture clinics directly, and there are a wide variety of systems. Unfortunately creates unnecessary hassle for patients and clinical staff, and lots of duplicated effort.

Fracture clinic today, seen by xray then consultant then physio in fairly short order. Physio not impressed by Minor Injuries 'strap it and she'll be right' and would have had it in a splint from the get go. Today's xrays showed it's still properly broken, but that's because the bone knitting doesn't show. Now sporting a hand crafted thermoplastic sheath in the same blue as the physio's shirt but only for another week or so. Only got three nights left to do April's BAM though so it'll needs be a local one.