anyone had one? managed to bend the top half of my pointer finger sideways after a nice fall, i bent it back, now my finger is stiff and swollen and doesn't bend normally.

reading online, they say it may need surgery. i hope not.

anyone with experience on this? i can't be the first mountain biker who messed up a hand....

Owww. That sounds painful. If you have insurance I would definitely get it checked out. The pointer finger is pretty important for stuff, and you don't want to regret not taking care of it now when it is best to get such things set and braced if that is what it needs.

No one here can really tell you how bad it is, or if it needs surgery. Your GP will most likely do a few range of movement tests/feel around on it, and if he thinks something may be broken or torn you will most likely be referred to a place to get your hand X-rayed in order to see the what the next course of action is.

did something quite similar and my big knuckle on my left index finger has never been the same. I doubt there's a whole lot you can do, but of course it never hurts to see a good doc.

I would get an X-ray. I hit my thumb and it was at a 90 degree bend at the first knuckle, and I slapped it back into place.
I put ice on it, still swole up real good, but later that day I tore my bicep. When I went to the ER they saw my bandaged hand and I explained what happened they
x-rayed it. Seems when you put it back you can pinch tendons etc (nothing happened to me) and it is a good idea to check it out.

^ Rough day.

update: got an x-ray, all is well, i should be able to bend my finger and ride a bike in a few days. huzzah!

Good to hear! Did they give you an angled brace? If you brace it straight it can also lead to problems (tendon can get too tight, resulting in loss of bending mobility).

i had put a brace on it myself (bought one at the drugstore) and the doc said no brace is actually better, just ice it and let it do it's thing...so...no brace.

oh no, how are you going to pick your nose now???

Best thing you can do: Tape it to the one next to it. -The guy who hurts everything, all the time.

Congrats on keeping the finger intact. Be patient and let it heal up. I'm always getting in a hurry and aggravating things. Then it takes forever to get better.

I hope it was a glorious fall. If you need an xray there better be a good story**********

And yeah, taping that finger to its neighbor is good advice.

I'm going to suggest you ignore internet advice and just do what the doctor suggested.

Nice!

One time I broke my finger playing basketball, and my mom gave me the ol "it's probably just jammed... it will be fine in a few days!" I re-broke it again a couple weeks later, and this time it pinched and cut the tendon. Ended up having to have a hand specialist re-break it to correctly set the first break, and then I was in an arm cast for 6 weeks so the tendon could heal.

So yeah, I was only 12 and it was "fine enough" for me to keep playing after a couple days. But, I'm glad I got it checked out (even though it took a second break ), because it might not work right if I hadn't!

Anybody know how silly it is to offer advice and then suggest you reject it?

^

Only advice I can guarantee is correct is Daspydyr's...let that thing heal! I was out of commission for a total of about 3 months because of a tiny hairline fracture in my wrist that the doc said should heal up in a few weeks...so I waited all of about two weeks before lifting heavy weights at the gym, at which time I messed it up even further...so I waited all of about two weeks before going longboarding (Coleman slides are kinda hard on the wrist, apparently)...& you see where this is going...

What I did there was so clever it even passed by me.