Broken finger

A broken finger or finger fracture is a common type of bone fracture, affecting a finger. Symptoms may include pain, swelling, tenderness, bruising, deformity and reduced ability to move the finger. Although most finger fractures are easy to treat, failing to deal with a fracture appropriately may result in long-term pain and disability. The cause is usually traumatic injury. These are most commonly falls, crushing injuries, and sports injuries. Pathological fractures, from an infection or a tumour, are rarer. Finger fractures are identified by the bone on which they occur. Fingers are numbered 1 to 5, with 1 being the thumb. The distal (tip) finger bones are divided into tuft (the very tip of the bone, at the end of each finger), shaft (the thinner middle section), and base. The rest of the finger bones (the middle finger bones, and the proximal or innermost finger bones) are divided into base, shaft, and condyle (outer end). Extensive tendons surround the joints and move the fingers. On the front and back of each finger is a digital nerve and artery; these can also be injured when the finger is broken. The AO Foundation/Orthopaedic Trauma Association (AO/OTA) classification generates language-neutral numeric codes for describing broken fingers. They run 78[meaning a fracture of the phalanges of the hand].[number-code of the finger, with thumb=1 and the little finger=5].[number-code of phalanx, counting 1 to 3 outwards from the hand].[number-code of location on the bone, with 1 being the inner end, 3 the outer, and 2 in-between]. So, for instance, 78.1.1.1 means a fracture to the thumb's innermost bone, at the inner end (the base of the thumb). A letter can be added to describe the fracture pattern. List of fracture patterns If the blow that breaks the bone bends it sideways, it will usually cause a transverse fracture, a break across the finger. A force at an angle is likely to produce an oblique fracture, and a twisting force is more likely to cause a spiral fracture.