Shooter's Finger?

[Foxbat]

Desperately need an advice. My right index finger is misbehaving... just one finger. The middle joint is swollen and it hurts like crazy to do just about anything. When my granddaughter grabs it - I see stars, so I now give her the middle one... laugh all you want.

This is of course the finger I use for shooting, and I shoot quite a bit, about 800 rounds per week. I am 60.

So this might be more than just coincidental, HOWEVER, what surprises me is the fact the trigger only takes just over one pound to pull - could such a minor force, albeit repeated many times a week, be responsible?

Are there any topical things that would fight the inflammation? Somehow that doesn't look like arthritis to me - all other finger and toes are fine. And my wife bristles at the idea of steroids - she sez the problem will usually come back with vengeance.

[GrumpyOne]

It could possibly be (don't laugh, I have friends that have it!) Gout. It will sometimes affect just certain joints in your body. I'd go see a doc about it, to find out for sure. I'm suffering with a bout of tennis elbow right now myself. It's all fine till you try and lift something or twist your arm a certain way...

[Jaxshooter]

It could also be arthiritis (sp?). I was a golf professional for 30+ years and can barely clap my hands without it hurting. It does not take much for it to flare up and cause pain. If you made a living using your hands ie: carpenter, mechanic etc. it could be your problem.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Jaxshooter

[Jake Di Vita]

Why don't you take a week off from shooting and see how it feels.

[Foxbat]

Taking a week off... how possible is it, now that the season started?

Good suggestion, really, but I am afraid I am looking for a quick fix at this point.

Edited May 10, 2010 by Foxbat

[mda]

Taking a week off... how possible is it, now that the season started?

Better a week now early in the season than a month or more later in the summer.

MDA

[Matt Griffin]

Taking a week off... how possible is it, now that the season started?

Good suggestion, really, but I am afraid I am looking for a quick fix at this point.

Doesn't work that way, of course. 800 rounds of live fire a week is too much, anyway. You're being obsessive, if you really want to get better at the game, practice your transitions and reloads. The thing that happens when you pull the trigger is one of the less important parts of the game.

Take 3 ibuprofen tablets 3 times a day for two weeks to reduce inflammation and speed healing. Rest your hands for three days straight, then start gentle stretching exercises. You'll be right in no time, but you do have to lay off for a bit. My arms get me more than my fingers, but it's the same deal; there are limits, and your joints have reached them.

H.

[Jake Di Vita]

I wouldn't say 800 rounds a week is too much. Nor would I recommend self medicating with ibuprofen.

If you need to reduce inflammation, do it with ice. If you still are inflamed after icing at least 3 times a day and resting for a week, go see an intelligent hand doctor. Then go get a second opinion.

Take the week off. It's obvious shooting 800 rounds a week won't help you accomplish anything with a bum finger. You also won't lose any appreciable amount of skill in that time by resting. You could also dry fire without pulling the trigger on a limited basis for that week.

There is no good reason to try and push through this and a week off will likely fix your problem. I admire the dedication, but in this case discretion is the better part of valor. You'll come back better.

[Corey]

if you think you have to shoot with a bum finger....sounds like a good time to work on weak hand shooting...

I would also agree with taking some time off and letting it heal. shoot WHO if you do hit the range.

[Jake Di Vita]

shoot WHO if you do hit the range

Also a good choice. But only if you can resist the temptation to do anything with your strong hand. Anything gun related that is.

[Foxbat]

Thank you, good suggestions all! I think I will start with ice, 3-4 times a day, and see where it gets me. Good hand doctors have to be scheduled here like three months in advance...

[Jake Di Vita]

Where is "here" and do you have the ability to drive to where there is one?

[Foxbat]

Delaware.

[Jake Di Vita]

You got lots of area with a large population in a pretty close vicinity. I'm confident you can find a good hand doctor that you don't have to wait 3 months for if it comes to that.

And don't forget that when it comes to ice, 3 times a day gets you a C. Ice massage being the most effective way I've found of utilizing it.

[eric nielsen]

Like Jake said, especially post #8. I wouldn't spend much more than a week on the ice/rest alone unless it provides significant improvement.

The swelling was the first sign your body has decided you have a problem. Sharp pain from a cause that is normally harmless tells you your body is making wholesale changes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nociceptor - read the intro then skip down to Section 6: Sensitivity, as that sounds like your situation.

Many possible causes. Bone-on-bone joint movement, a bone chip or 5 stuck in your tendons/muscles, auto-immune, neuropathy, and so on. If you are lucky it is inflammation without an underlying joint defect. That might let you get back to normal without surgery or meds.

[JimmyZip]

Jake, Should he alternate ice with the heat? I've heard that alot lately, and it seems to have done well for me.

[Jake Di Vita]

I'm not a big fan applying heat to an injury of this type. It works for some people, but my experience is that it can exacerbate inflammation. Your mileage may vary.

The most important part is controlling the inflammatory response. Heat does nothing to further this cause to my knowledge. If heat is used to aid healing, I'm of the opinion that the body is pretty good at that by itself when we get our own over-reactive physiological responses out of the way. Obviously this depends on the severity of the injury.

[Flyin40]

Jake is rigth on. This type of injury calls for ice. The only time heat should be used for this type of injury is where you need to warm it up before using it. Since its a joint in the finger the heat wouldn't be needed. Check out a doctor but I doubt a week off will take care of it.

Flyin

[BSeevers]

Sometimes you got to take a step back to go forward.

I was getting bad enough last year I thought I might have to quit. When I finally saw Drs and got surgery, I still had to heal, recover and am prob 90% now. If I had not "worked through the pain" and not delayed and self medicated who knows I might be 100%. Could still get there cause I was saying 80% for the longest time. I know one thing I ain't quitting cause 90% is enough to win. Its more than just running.

Another delay might have caused a need to quit is my point.

Edited May 11, 2010 by BSeevers

[Flyin40]

Sometimes you got to take a step back to go forward.

I was getting bad enough last year I thought I might have to quit. When I finally saw Drs and got surgery, I still had to heal, recover and am prob 90% now. If I had not "worked through the pain" and not delayed and self medicated I might be 100%. I know one thing I ain't quitting and another delay might have caused that.

Beer and drinks don't quite count as self medicating though it often gets the same result

Flyin

[Duane Thomas]

Heat and cold - the concept is called hydrotherapy, because in days of old it was practiced by using alternating hot and cold water. This is still not at all a bad way to go about it. Several months ago, for some ungodly reason, I got a serious infection in the tip of my trigger fingertip, like from the last knuckle forward was about half again as large as it should be. What really helped me a lot was to stick my finger under a faucet tap, run warm water over my finger for a minute, then cold, then warm, then cold, etc. The idea is that what promotes healing is to move as much blood through the affected site as possible. Flush out the damaged area, get new blood in there to promote healing, then flush it out again, and so on. The warm water causes the arteries and veins to swell with blood, then the cold causes them to contract, forcing that blood out, then warmth brings in more new blood, cold forces it out, and so on. Like I said, that approach helped me a lot. Don't know how it would do with something like arthritis, fortunately what I had to deal with an infection and inflamed tissue.

[Foxbat]

Thank you gentlemen! I am still evaluating different options.

Any opinion on this: http://www.ivlproducts.com/p-37-alleviate-joint-formula.aspx

A friend has tried it for his problem with finger joints and now swears by it.

[DWFAN]

I'd go see a Dr, before spending $30 for a bottle of over the counter herbal remedies.

[eric nielsen]

The only helpful ingredient in the product, if it's actually there and has some level of purity, is Hyaluronic acid or HA.

Like many supplement/vitamin product ads, it takes a biological fact - that you use HA in your joints, and then extends that claim to say that their tablet or capsule will help you. It's usually the extended part of the claim that is sketchy.

Medicines, foods, supplements etc have to do more than get into your stomach or intestines to provide benefit. They have to survive the pH-2 acid attack of the stomach, actually get absorbed into intestinal blood vessels, survive the immediate trip through the liver [the "hepatic first pass"] and hopefully do more than one round trip through your circulation before the kidneys remove the substance and put it into urine. The longer your supplement survives all this, the more bioavailable it is.

Since 1994, the FDA doesn't control the quality and the clinical claims of supplements. One thing that most HA products are very defensive about is the bioavailability of HA. That made me curious.

HA has been proven by the FDA in many studies to have poor bioavailability. The main way it is used is by direct injection into joints, avoiding the "first pass" of the liver. I found one study not written by vitamin salesmen that showed some improved availability of oral HA when mixed with phospholipids. The product you linked has none of these.

Again, if you have an underlying joint defect, delays in medical treatment are not in your best interest.

Edited May 11, 2010 by eric nielsen

[BritinUSA]

I am wondering; How much tension do you have on your finger when shooting? Is your finger relaxed when pulling the trigger or is there a lot of tension in the joint? If the latter then that may be causing the swelling. I try to relax my strong-hand as much as possible when shooting as it stops me from jerking the trigger.