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I hyperextended my finger a couple weekends ago playing football and I was getting worried because I still can't bend my finger very well. So I got in touch with a buddy of mine who's a former physical therapists and this is what he said:
"When you hyperextend a joint the joint will collect and encapsule fluid as a defense mechanism. Try to imagine putting a full water balloon behind your knee and flex it. That's basically what you have, a small water ballon in your finger joint. Unless there is sharp pain then more than likely it's just fluid build up. It can take a couple weeks to a couple months to reduce. The best thing is not to immobilize the joint 24/7 or else it will be really stiff. You want to try bending the joint on it's own power. Go to the door of pain, but don't go through it. Just enough to get your attention. At this point ice is useless but you can compress the joint. Apply external compression to the joint to to help speed up the fluid release. You can wrap it tightly with stretch tape or something for an hour a day."
I thought this was worth sharing with everyone so they would know how to deal with such a common thing like this.
"When you hyperextend a joint the joint will collect and encapsule fluid as a defense mechanism. Try to imagine putting a full water balloon behind your knee and flex it. That's basically what you have, a small water ballon in your finger joint. Unless there is sharp pain then more than likely it's just fluid build up. It can take a couple weeks to a couple months to reduce. The best thing is not to immobilize the joint 24/7 or else it will be really stiff. You want to try bending the joint on it's own power. Go to the door of pain, but don't go through it. Just enough to get your attention. At this point ice is useless but you can compress the joint. Apply external compression to the joint to to help speed up the fluid release. You can wrap it tightly with stretch tape or something for an hour a day."
I thought this was worth sharing with everyone so they would know how to deal with such a common thing like this.
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