Hand and Upper Extremity Specialist
The video below shows a patient’s thumb moving back and forth. As you’ll see, most of the range of motion is at the MP (metacarpophalangeal) joint. This is abnormal – in a normal thumb, the majority of the motion is through the CMC (carpometacarpal joint, at the base of the thumb).
When the CMC joint stiffens up from arthritis, the next joint toward the tip of the thumb gets hyperflexible to compensate.
This image of Jared Cornelius and his broken arm shows what looks like a forearm fracture.
Also called a “both bone forearm fracture”, this injury involves the complete breaking in two of each of the two bones of the forearm: the radius (on the thumb side), and the ulna (on the pinky side).
Remember that break and fracture mean the same thing – these bones are broken in half!
This is different than a wrist fracture – the wrist is technically closer to the hand. The forearm bones are the two long bones between the elbow and the wrist.
In children, these fractures can be treated with just casting or a couple of pins.
The first thing that happens after the injury is to put the patient’s arm in a temporary splint, usually made of fiberglass. This holds the bones still so the arm doesn’t hurt as much.
In adults, the standard treatment is to take the patient to surgery within a few days and fix each bone with a long metal plate and several screws. This is a fairly significant surgery involving making two large incisions over each bone, and moving muscles and nerves around to get access to the broken bones underneath. Surgery may take 1 or 2 hours and the patient can go home the same day.
An athlete with this injury will not be able to play for at least six weeks after surgery. It takes six weeks for bone to heal after it’s lined up correctly in surgery. After the bone heals, the athlete can return to playing sports.
This video shows how the surgery is typically done. It’s all done on fake bones, but with real plates and screws – nothing gruesome:
“my finger doesn’t work”“my finger is bent”“my finger won’t straighten”“my finger is drooped” These are several of the most common things I hear when patients come in with a mallet finger. A mallet finger is the name for a ruptured (torn) tendon at the tip of the finger. A tendon rupture is where a tendon […]
The video below shows a patient’s thumb moving back and forth. As you’ll see, most of the range of motion is at the MP (metacarpophalangeal) joint. This is abnormal – in a normal thumb, the majority of the motion is through the CMC (carpometacarpal joint, at the base of the thumb). When the CMC joint […]
Bones in children are different from bones in adults. They break differently and they respond differently to injury. Some fractures occur both in adults and kids – some fractures occur only in children. Forearm fractures occur in both, with some important differences. This article will cover some of the basics of forearm fractures in kids. […]
The most common tumor in the finger is a ganglion cyst. A ganglion cyst is simply a fluid-filled sac. It can be visible from the outside or buried deep underneath the skin. Sometimes it causes symptoms like soreness and pain; other times patients have no idea it’s there. What is a mucous cyst? Ganglion cysts […]
