Hand question

[coopntex]

I coach youth baseball and yesterday on of the kids hit me on the top of my hand and index finger with a bat. It started to swell and was very sore all night. I was sure I had broken something but today Its a little better. My question is should I get an x-ray or see how it goes. I would think if it was broke the pain would be much worse. Im comparing this to other bones I have broke like my wrist and my collar bone.

 

[bevo_daddy]

There are a lot of little bones in your hand, so you might want to check it out. How does your hand feel whenever you make a fist?

 

[coopntex]

When I make a fist its pretty sore and hard to squeeze tight.

 

[notreally]

i fractured my hand in the exact same place. mine was caused when i planted on the outside of third base instead of the inside last year. i fell and and landed on my hand.

i didn't go to the doctor at first because it didn't hurt bad enough. i just assumed if it was broken it would be more painful. it was broken and i had to wear a soft cast for few weeks.

i would go in.

 

[jimmyjazz]

I have broken my nose (which isn't a bone), cracked a rib, and broken one of the bones in my hand in the line that runs from the pinkie knuckle to the wrist. The latter was the least painful of the three -- it was pretty much just an annoyance. The doc put me in a soft cast for 3 weeks, and it has hurt intermittently ever since. I also have a nice lump. He did have to "set" it, which hurt worse than breaking it. The fact that he had to set it convinces me you should probably get your hand checked out.

 

[gsoda3]

u need to get it checked out. your hand has so many small bones and is so intricate they have special hand doctors. if it is broken and you don't get treatment and it "heals", you could have continuous pain for the rest of your life. and then at some point you'll go to the doctor, get an xray, they'll see what happened and then they'll have to manually re-break the bone and set it anyways.

 

[Dr Fear]

Need a lawyer? Does the kid have assets or is he judgment proof?

 

[Wild Bill]

It may be nothing more than a bruise (contusion), but I would get an X-ray just to be sure.

 

[NCAAFBALLROX]

I think the lesson we're missing from the OP & 2nd respondant is that baseball is more dangerous than we thought.

 

[notreally]

actually this was in softball, even worse.

 

[gardere_owns_OU]

coopntex, my hand hurts too. but i punched a rock repeatedly.

 

[Mr. Longhorn]

Definately get some x-rays, just to make sure. You have 8 carpal bones between your wrist and the metacarpals in your hand. Even if its just a hairline fracture, its best to splint it up and let it heal, rather than hurting it again and making it worse.

 

[tropheus]

either jimmyjazz is one tough dude or a broken rib and broken nose hurts like hell. I had a spiral fracture of the same bone jimmyjazz is talking about, the bone from my pinky knuckle to my wrist as well and it hurt pretty bad -- not wail in pain bad, but bad nonetheless.

 

[Wulaw Horn]

I broke my hand in a couple places playing softball once. It hurt and I said- well, it's broken, I'm not coming into work and everyone around me was like- it can't be broken you aren't hopping around in pain or anything.

Went in to the doctor and sure enough, broken it 2 places. I got a case (plaster) for a couiple weeks and then a soft cast/splint.

I didn't go in until the next day though b/c the Rockets were playing the Jazz (97 I guess) in game 6 of the playoffs. To this day my Dad doesn't believe my softball story and thinks I hurt it punching the wall after the big Utah comeback and the stockton three.

Point being- it wasn't crazy intense pain like when I broke my foot jumping into the lake- or even like whene I've ripped up my ankle a couple times playing hoops. But I knew it was broken.

 

[jimmyjazz]

In reply to:

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[gardere_owns_OU]

well nothing is broken. milk has done my body good. i am lucky it aint broken. just colored, cut, and swollen.

 

[Mr. Longhorn]

Good to hear that nothing is broken. We would get guys that came in to the hospital all the time for hand x-rays. When we would look at the x-rays we would see a fracture of the metacarpals called a boxer's fracture, which pretty much means that you punched something and that something won. 100% of the time they said that they either fell or slammed it in a car door, which would mean the fractured bone would protrude the opposite way. Just glad you didn't have to go through the experience of telling them how a rock mouthed off to you.

 

[jimmyjazz]

Heh . . . my ER doc threw the X-ray up on the view and asked (with a twinkle in his eye) "hmmm, that's interesting, how'd you do that?" I knew I was busted and I told him the truth. He called it a "boxer's fracture", too.

 

[Wild Bill]

GOO, glad to hear all is well. A "boxer's fracture" is a fracture of the 5th metacarpal bone (the hand bone below your little finger). It is very common and especially occurs if you hit something with the small knuckles. A good punch should be delivered with the large 2 knuckles. I guess you hit the rock properly.