About 8-10 days ago, my right hand started to hurt, quickly getting progressively worse for most of the week. I don't know what caused it; I recall getting a particularly sharp whack on the back of the hand, but I thought that was a number of days or a week before symptoms showed up.

Pain seems to be centered about the heel of the palm, from the fleshy area of the palm near the wrist, from the center to the pinky finger side. It periodically got pretty bad, making hand completely weak and painful, also cold, especially in the evening. Pain spread to forearm and was disabling. At those times it sure felt like I might have broken something, but I couldn't locate a specific likely break spot by surface pressure. There was swelling of the palm (and to a lesser degree in the last few fingers) earlier in the week, which is almost gone now. Never any tingling or numb feeling.

The wrist is fine, mobility in the thumb and 1st 3 fingers is good; the pinkie is relatively ok, but feels like it's best to avoid using it. Gripping and applying pressure w/the hand results (a bit later) in extreme pain and weakness. I've all but stopped using the hand to do most anything for the last day, and today it's begun to feel somewhat better. Making a fist was still very painful yesterday, while today it's do-able if done slowly.

I'm not an office worker or candidate for carpal tunnel syndrome. (This post is the most typing I've done in weeks.) Nor am I aware of any particularly repetitive activity I've been doing that would have lead to this injury. I've done yoga daily for years, am a fairly keen observer of my physical state, and felt no problems coming on before my hand just about self-destructed.

I don't know if an x-ray is of any value at this point, if diagnosis leads to a splint to keep it immobile. I'm well-conditioned enough by now to have all the pain-avoidance motivation I need to keep from stressing the hand any more. I'm taking aspirin as needed, now at 2x/day.

Psurfer,

It's time to see an orthopedist, preferably one that specializes in hands. I faced a situation with my wrist that couldn't be diagnosed by my regular doctor. She sent me to a hand specialist who diagnosed it as a cyst.

The specialist told me the cyst would probably shrink on its own and no longer cause me pain. The problem is that while it would shrink, it wouldn't go away altogether and the only way to get rid of it permanently would be surgery. I chose to let it shrink.

It took a couple of months but the cyst did shrink in size to the point that it's a non-issue. It's only grown once since the original diagnosis and again, it shrank just like before. It hasn't increased to the point of pain since.

Robert

Ouch! Hope you're out of the woods w/that one, Robert.

I'm fairly certain mine is the result of injury (if of unknown origin) that will heal in [x]-weeks time -if I can keep from using it for a while, but would get the professional opinion if it seems to take too long before significant improvement. Just today it felt like I reached the turning point, so will hopefully be back in action here soon.

Kind of sounds like someone I know who got an infection from trimming trees. It took awhile for symtoms to show for what sounded like a minor scratch.

It's an infected bone bruise.

Hard to make a diagnosis without seeing you. The truth is that most diagnoses are made by history. However, musculoskeletal injuries are frequently a combination of physical and history.

I would see a hand specialist (doesn't have to be an orthopedist, it may also be a hand surgeon). GL

---

All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.

Geez Louise!!! Go see a doc!!!

I wish people would go and see a doc rather than hang out here asking us to diagnose what could be a life-threatening medical problem.

Hand feels a Lot better this morning, after a full day of concerted effort at not using it. So I'm on the mend, thanks. The question now may be how long to wait before slowly building it back up?