I spent New Year's Eve at a friend's house in the Maryland suburbs. It's a party that traditionally has two parts: a traditional soiree ringing in the New Year, followed by a massive breakfast and football game later on New Year's Day. For the most part, I usually skip the football game, but this year was coaxed into playing.
Unfortunately, I didn"t get the chance to take the field for even one play. Why? Before we had a chance to choose up sides, I mishandled a pass off my fingertips resulting in what I thought was a jammed ring finger on my left hand.
Now, having spent most of my recreational athletic career on the ice, I'm not normally one to let a bruise or two stop me from playing. But this time, something felt decidedly different, as if bone was rubbing against bone inside my top-most knuckle just below my fingernail .
It wasn't a nice feeling. So I excused myself, said my goodbyes, and got myself to an urgent care facility not far from my house in Virginia. Three hours and an X-Ray later, the doctor gave me the bad news: I've got something known as Mallet Finger, also known as "Baseball FInger":
Fingers can bend down (toward the palm of your hand) only about 35 to 40 degrees. The force of a batted ball can push the finger beyond that limit and tear the tendon that controls muscle movement in the finger. The force may even be great enough to pull tiny pieces of bone away as well. When the tendon is detached, the tip of the finger cannot be straightened out and it hangs down abnormally.
Click here for an excellent graphical explanation of exactly how this sort of injury can occur. Near as I can figure, as the ball was coming toward me, I extended my hands to make the catch. But instead of cushioning the blow with the palms of my hands, I muffed the catch, and took the entire force of the ball on one finger.
And according to the X-Ray, snap went the tendon, taking a small piece of bone with it.
Don't get me wrong, I don't feel special. Even though this is an uncommon injury, I'm not even the first blogger to get it. Still, it sucks, and I'll be in a splint for at least 6-8 weeks -- not something to look forward too, especially for somebody who actually makes his living more or less exclusively at the keyboard.
POSTSCRIPT: The last name of the doctor who examined me on Saturday was Banaszak -- one that football fans of a certain age ought to recall. As it turned out, Dr, Banaszak is the brother of former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end John Banaszak, as well as a distant cousin of former Oakland Raiders running back Pete Banaszak.
make that three bloggers. though i dont have the fanbase that you do, i blog occasionally and have suffered from “baseball finger” actually getting it while playing baseball.
its no fun, but i dont remember if i wrote about it or not. the problem happened last june.
anyways, hope it gets better soon. i dont know what i’d do without reading something from you for a few days. maybe continue with my normal life.
Wow. I never knew it was called mallet finger. I got one playing flag football about ten years ago. Reached for the flag, but instead jammed the ring finger on my right hand against the runner’s hip bone. Ouch. But, as you said, playing sports on ice my whole life, I learned to “play on,” which I did. Now, yes, the last digit on that finger hangs a tad low.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Ouch! Sorry to hear that the hockey guy got baseball finger. Hope your finger heals up with no further problems.
I broke a finger in similar circumstances when I was about 12. That was one of three broken fingers I had growing up, which explains why my hands today have all sorts of unnatural curves and my piano teacher asked if I was getting enough calcium.
Get well soon, and enjoy modified typing. When I was taking the occasional baby-comforting night shift a year ago, I grew surprisingly proficient at typing with one hand while cradling a baby in the other, so there’s hope yet.
Eric ‘Stone Hands’ McErlain has a nice ring to it
I hope you get through this without permanent pain.
It might be a good time to try one of those speech-to-text editors. Since you are a tech-savvy blogger, maybe you can be the guinea pig.
Hey Eric,
Two weeks ago I hurt my knee playing soccer. 43 years old, my entire life playing sports, plenty of injuries but never…NEVER…a knee. I was clinically depressed until I went to the doctor a few days later, and he said I was very lucky – no ligament damage, just bruised and fluid was causing the pain. Slowly getting better, but it’s still not right yet.
The curse of the weekend warrior. Anyway, hang in there, and feel better.
As host of the football game I feel really bad about your injury. The good news is that in the 5 years of football games you are the first “to the hospital” injury we have had. May that dubious distinction aid you in your recovery.