Broken finger
A broken finger is a common injury often caused by a fall, a sports injury or another type of trauma. It usually takes four to six weeks to heal.
A break or crack in a bone is also known as a fracture.
How do I know if it's broken or just injured?
It can be hard to tell if a finger is broken, dislocated or just sprained, as the symptoms tend to be the same – the finger will be swollen, painful and stiff.
Check whether your finger looks deformed. If part of the finger is pointing in a different direction, the bone is probably broken or dislocated (a dislocated finger, where the bone has moved out of position, usually looks deformed at a joint such as the knuckle).
A broken or dislocated finger may also look bruised (where the tiny blood vessels have broken), and you will feel a sharp pain when you touch it. If you have fractured a fingertip there is likely to be purple blood visible under the nail as well as bruising on the pad of the finger.
Sprains and strains
If you've just sprained the finger, it means you've stretched the ligaments (bands of tissue that hold the bones together at the joint). The finger shouldn't look deformed or bruised and the pain and swelling will eventually subside.
If you think it might be sprained, avoid using the finger and wait to see if the pain and swelling gets better over the next day or so.
Learn more about sprains and strains.
If you think you've broken or dislocated it...
If you think you've broken or dislocated your finger, you should go to your nearest minor injuries unit (MIU) or accident and emergency (A&E) department.
You can also call NHS 111, which can give you advice or direct you to the best local service to treat your injury.
It is better to go to a MIU if possible, as this will allow A&E staff to concentrate on people with serious, life-threatening conditions and will save you a potentially long wait.
There are about 225 MIUs in England. They are usually led by nurses and an appointment is not necessary. Staff at MIUs are used to treating people with broken bones.
Fixing the fracture
A suspected broken finger will need to be X-rayed to confirm whether there is a fracture.
If it is fractured, the bone will need to be moved back into place – a procedure known as reduction. You will be given an injection of local anaesthetic to numb the area and doctors can often realign the bone.
The finger may then need to be supported in a splint or plaster cast, or may just need to be strapped to the finger next to it (known as 'buddy taping'). This will hold the bone in position as it heals.
Occasionally, if the fracture is severe, surgery is needed to stabilise the broken bone. This involves fixing the bone with small wires or plates and screws – a procedure known as open reduction and internal fixation.
After care
Most people will leave the clinic or hospital with a dressing and a splint. It's important not to disturb the splint as this is holding your fractured finger in position. Try to keep the dressing clean, to prevent infection.
Try not to use the hand until your follow-up appointment with the specialist, which should be about a week later. At this follow-up appointment, the specialist will want to check that the bone fragments are still aligned and healing in the correct position.
Your finger will take about four to six weeks to heal.
It's important to keep the finger moving as soon as it has healed – if you keep it splinted for too long, the joint will become stiff and your finger will become harder to move. You may need to speak to a physiotherapist for advice on some gentle hand exercises to keep the finger moving.
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