We use our hands every day to do our daily tasks, and this can sometimes put them under frequent pressure and forces. Fingers have the highest risk of injury out of all of the parts of a hand.
If a high amount of pressure is applied, the bones in the fingers can break or fracture. Fracturing a finger can limit the movement of the rest of the hand and disrupt your daily routine. Injury is the main cause of broken fingers, however, weakened bones can also put you at risk of fracturing your fingers. Finger fractures are a common injury, but if left untreated, they can leave you in pain, cause fingers to become misaligned and cause a feeling of tightness.
Fractures can occur if the nature of the injury is severe. However, the strength of bones can also cause a fracture. Osteoporosis and malnutrition both affect bone strength, so if you have either condition, you may be more likely to break a finger. Injuries to fingers can occur in many different ways, such as when playing sports, working with tools or breaking a fall with your hands. You can fracture the metacarpal bone (the bone connecting the little finger and the hand) when your hand hits something hard, as this makes up around one-third of adult hand fractures. The bones in your fingers are called phalanges, and each finger is made up of three, except for thumbs, which have two. When one or more phalange breaks, a fracture can occur in the finger. Knuckles can also be fractured, and any finger is prone to fracturing, depending on the cause of injury.
Defining symptoms of a fractured finger are pain, swelling of the finger, tenderness, inability to move a finger and your finger looking visibly misaligned. Some fractured fingers are not extremely painful or have minimal pain, so they can sometimes be overlooked. All fractures should be seen to, in order to treat or fix the fracture before it causes long-term issues. If these symptoms are ignored, long-term mobility issues can occur in the hand, and it can lead to mild forms of disability.