Finger injury?

bodya · Post by **bodya** » April 30th, 2009, 10:22 am

I am almost at 1,000,000 meters and I developed pain in right hand's ring finger. It hurts at the base segment, under the finger thickest phalanx. The pain is felt during exercise and especially after.

I tried changing my grip - that does not seem to make any difference. What's recommended way to grip a handle? The grip I use most often is when my thumb is over the bar, and I am holding bar with just the four fingers. I tried changing that into tight fist grip, and it does not seem to help.

I tried wearing gloves that I sometimes use on my bike, those are fully enclosed gloves for cold weather ride, and have reinforced leather pads that cover entire surface of glove that comes between hand and the rower handle - those don't make any difference.

I tried giving a week's break - pain goes away, but comes back after first time I row.

I was thinking about stopping by Gym and getting those wrist straps that are used for for weight lifting, see if those will help... Or maybe I should buy those special gloves for rowing that secure at wrist?

Does anyone have any experience with this kind of injury?

BJMoose · Post by **BJMoose** » April 30th, 2009, 12:26 pm

At the risk of asking the obvious . . . do you remove any rings before working out?

tdekoekkoek · Post by **tdekoekkoek** » April 30th, 2009, 2:05 pm

I recently injured my middle finger (carrying a piano!) It became painful to erg and there was even pain in my elbow and shoulder as a result. I took a few days off but the bottom line is that I am not erging now. I am however rowing on the water. The oar handle is thicker and the movement OTW is a more relaxed arc (sculling) than the direct pull towards your chest on the erg. So I have found it not to irritate the condition.

So my advice would be to row OTW. If that is not possible, try thickening the grip perhaps with some sport tape so that you don't have to grip as tightly. Now I'm no physician so perhaps you should have it looked at, but that's what helped for me.

Cheers,

Trevor

bodya · Post by **bodya** » April 30th, 2009, 2:15 pm

Hmmm...

The advice about thickening the grip is something I can try out.
I used to use padded lifting straps back when I was lifting weights. The strap goes around your wrist and then you wrap it around weight handle and make it tight. I haven't try to row like that, but this would definately make handle thicker since you wrap the strap around it...

sheehc · Post by **sheehc** » May 1st, 2009, 1:32 am

Try wrapping tape between the main knuckle of your fist and the first knuckle of your finger. This can provide support for tendons running along the finger and may help with the pain.

bodya · Post by **bodya** » May 1st, 2009, 10:41 am

I ordered NewGrip gloves, see if that will help it...

As far as wrapping fingers, you mean wrapping tape around base segments (phalanges) of ring and middle fingers, or actual base knuckles (main joint) of these two fingers?

sheehc · Post by **sheehc** » May 2nd, 2009, 1:46 pm

The phalanges. I am not sure what the basis of your pain is, whether it is bruising to the bone/tissue around the base of your finger or perhaps a side product of strain on tendons/ligaments. By taping the phalanges though you provide support to said connective tissues and possibly provide benefit or at least help rule out one cause.

moodygirl · Post by **moodygirl** » May 2nd, 2009, 4:34 pm

have you tried taking an OTC anti-infamatory? before rowing?

PJM · Post by **PJM** » May 2nd, 2009, 4:41 pm

bodya wrote:I ordered NewGrip gloves, see if that will help it...

As far as wrapping fingers, you mean wrapping tape around base segments (phalanges) of ring and middle fingers, or actual base knuckles (main joint) of these two fingers?

New Grips are awesome!!

I have been using them for about 3 years and would not row without them.They alleviate many issues with the hands, fingers and wrists.
Great rowing tool!!

Pat

bodya · Post by **bodya** » May 5th, 2009, 9:00 am

I got my NewGrip gloves yesterday, and I also grabbed roll of climbing tape in local sport's store. I'll let you guys know how it goes, thanks for all the advice.

bodya · Post by **bodya** » May 5th, 2009, 10:38 am

It works. When using climbing tape to secure weak fingers to strong fingers with NewGrip glove I don't have the pain that was persistant for weeks. Just did 10K without slightest discomfort, while before I would not be able to even type this without pain.

bloomp · Post by **bloomp** » May 5th, 2009, 11:05 am

Glad to hear it worked out for you - I just normally grit through any finger pain I get (my pinky gets a 'dislocated' feel occasionally when erging).

bodya · Post by **bodya** » May 5th, 2009, 5:23 pm

My problem is that I am going for 10K row each morning, and I keep increasing intensity, boosting the dumper setting, decreasing time, etc.

If something gets hurt, it just gets worse and worse with every day - I simply don't give it enough time to heal.

First I had back pains - those gradually went away as I build up some muscle. I had to get around those by allowing rest days in between workouts.

Then I got knee pain. This one would not go away even when allowing for rest days. I had to remove straps off rower, and that did it - no more knee pain.

Then I started to have wrist/finger issues. Just found my way around those.

I wonder what is next...