Last week I slipped on some stairs at home and my right hand middle finger went SNAP when I landed. Felt like it was broken backwards but it looked normal.

I had it x-rayed the next day and it wasn't broken but it is three times the size it should be, is stiff, and super painful.

Great way to work on bar chords though, being a lefty. I've practiced everyday but one since my unfortunate slip. Gotta keep playing.

Anybody else have a similar experience?

I had something similar happen to my left hand. Someone dove into a public pool I was swimming in without looking and landed on my hand with a lot of force. It swelled up the size of a softball within a few hours. At the time I mainly played trumpet, so I was fortunate that my right hand was not the one to be injured.

How long did it take to get back to normal?

I had a pretty good cut on my right middle finger a few months back. I kept forgetting that it was injured, and started finger picking and re-opened the cut 3 times. I finally had to get a couple of staples to keep it shut. It really sucked because I was trying to figure out Travis picking at the time. Still have not nailed it!

My son fractured a finger playing soccer a few months ago and his finger was in a splint for 4 weeks. Being 12 years old, he just started using his other fingers for chording. Nothing seems to stop kids...

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When I used to practice WingChun kungfu a good deal of the training was hand conditioning. Basicaly beat your hands up to make them tough to the point that when you hit someone it didnt hurt (yes theres no gloves for that style). That involved all kinds of wallbag work, with various fillings from steel ballbearings to coarse sand. Also pressups on the little finger knuckles on concrete floors were the order of the day. After a while I started to look at ways to allieviate pain and swelling.

One of the best solutions I found was to use a mixture of heat then cold for a couple of weeks, after that move onto just heat treatment.
Basicaly what I'd do is get a hot water bottle and a bag of frozen peas. Put the heat on for 2 minutes then the cold on for 1 minute. Dont go any longer than those times. Start to shorten the times as the ailment starts to improve. Keep the same 2:1 ratio so you end up even at 15 sec's heat 7 sec's of cold as things improve.

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No no and no

It won't take long to return to normal. I have broke several of My fingers and had the tip of one put back on just give it time.

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If it's badly sprained...you DON'T gotta keep playing. You are NOT going to move things along by manning up. You are going to delay healing and maybe move things back.

It doesn't sound like mallet finger (where the tendon gets ripped). A big BTW, the trauma you suffered with one fall is also NOT the same as the extended hand conditioning in martial arts.

In an acute injury, heat application is BAD advice even if it's only for a few "seconds." Why? If there is still swelling, heat is NOT a vasoconstrictor. It's the opposite. Heat is primarily for chronic pain. If you would like to have continued swelling, chronic pain, keep applying heat and keep playing.

You DO NOT apply heat to an injury that shows swelling/inflammation!

Follow the advice of the ER doctor or your primary.

If you can still find it somewhere, Baxter's Fingerstyle Guitar was THE best resource I could ever find...long before videos...and a great comprehensive foundation for Travis style.

Read Chet Atkin's comments on that style and the time it takes...you won't feel so bad!

You will REALLY get it...in a about a year! (according to Chet Atkins...) Trying to get it sooner makes it later...and don't forget you foot.

It was about 6 weeks or so before it was even close to normal again. But it was pretty severe.

How about premature arthritic finger? Yup 37 years old and woke up one morning a month or so ago and WHAMMO swollen finger...from what you ask? nothing...the DR. says arthritis...go figure...it's still swollen at the knuckle.

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Thanks everyone. I appreciate your advise. I'll keep up on the ice and back off on practicing, which is a bummer, but maybe better in the long run to get back to playing regularly again.

Well I think everyone knows my situation, but the only thing I will say is if you feel pain STOP. tHIS IS NOT WORKING OUT WHERE NO PAIN NO GAIN APPLIES. If it hurts just take a break and keep treating it and you should be fine in a week to ten days.

If your finger is badly sprained it would be very detrimental to it's healing to continue playing as it doesn't give the damaged tissue time to heal.In order to promote healing you should try to keep the finger as immobile as possible,applying ice packs wrapped in a towel will help reduce swelling and speed healing but using it will exaserbate the sprain just as running would aggravate a sprained ankle.

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I got my left index finger caught in a commercial meat shredder 10 years ago. my finger is hooked inward at about a 45 degree angle and my nail is split even to this day. I couldn't play for about a year. because my cuticle is only half as long as it should be that fingertip is very sensitive and a bit misshapen. Barre chords were the most difficult to relearn because of the hook at my first knuckle. The left index finger wouldn't lay flat, especially over the heavier strings. I'm OK now but as I said, it took about a year of rehabilitation to be able to play for more than a couple minutes.

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