knuckle injury

[Katy]

hi,
I dont know if any one can help me?
But, i punched a wall a week ago and hurt my knuckle on my middle finger.
The symptoms i have are: swelling, brusing, stiffness, pain and my knuckle cracks when i try to bend and straighten my finger.
The problem is, i went to hospital last night and they weren't very clear as to what my injury is, they did not do much to find out what is wrong and i did not have an x-ray or anything, but i dont want to go back because they will probably tell me the same thing.
Everyday the stiffness in my hand has got worse, even though i am moving my hand, however this morning i woke up and cant even make a fist, so what should I do?
katy x

[Zaynah]

hey...

if you make a fist, the knuckle of the middle finger is the most prominent, so when you punch something, it makes first contact... hard.

The knuckle is a joint where the longbones in the hand join the finger bones. There are tendons running over this joint that bends and straightens the fingers. There are also lots of ligaments on the outersides of the knuckle joint that stabilize it.

You could have injured all these structures above. You could have a fracture, injured the articular cartilage inside the joint from impact, sprain the stabilizing ligaments or injured the tendon that runs over the knuckle at the prominence that extends the middle finger.

If i were you, i would go to a GP or specialist. A week is enough time for a normal injury to pass the inflammation stage. You should be recovering now. If its gettig worse and youre not straining it purposefully, then there must be something else wrong.

Good luck.