Knuckle Injury - Advice?

Question

I hurt my left pinkie and ring finger knuckles while hitting the heavy bag this week. There is some tightness and pain across the back of my knuckles when I make a fist now. My hands weren't wrapped, but I was wearing some decent bag gloves.

Any ideas on what happened?

How do I keep it from happening again?

How do I take care of this?

Answer 1

What happened in all likely hood is that you caught the bag with just those 2 knuckles on a few shots and they really don't stand up to it very well. I'm sure some people will jump on here and tell you to work on your focus and what part of the hand you are hitting with, and to some extent they will be right. On the other hand you CAN NOT always have perfect hand position or make contact with the bag exactly where you want to. You are in motion and the bag is in motion as tends to happen in real life and Wham, you didn't make contact where you wanted to. It happens to everybody, so no biggy, learn from it the same as everything else and try to improve on it.

As far as keeping it from happening again. First off it most likely will happen again just because there are lots of variables to landing the punch on the part of the bag you want to with the part of the fist you want to and it doesn't always work out that way. You could use wraps under your bag gloves for some extra protection to help prevent it. You could work on hand conditioning to toughen and strengthen your knuckles. I know a lot of people on here don't like to hear that suggested, but it helps in cases like this.

In terms of taking care of it, that depends on how bad it is. If it is just some soreness and stiffness then in all likely hood it is just some minor soft tissue damage and won't be a major concern. Take it easy on the hand for a few days and if you work the bag wrap and glove the hand before you do or even with pad drills. If you have significant swelling in the outside edge or back of the hand you could be looking at either major soft tissue damage or what they call a boxers fracture. From what you said I doubt that you have done major damage to the hand and should be good to go in a few days maybe a week at most. When it gets stiff and painful after you have used it I would first put an ice pack on it to numb it. Leave that on for 10 -15 minutes, then take it off and let the hand come back to room temperature over the next 10 -15 minutes then if you have one put a hot pack on it for roughly 10 -15 minutes. Again let it settle back towards it's usual temperature and then try rubbing it out. Working from the tips of the finger back toward the hand and then from the knuckles of the hand toward the wrist. The basic idea here is; the cold decreases swelling and some what numbs it, the heat increases circulation and brings blood rushing in, then rubbing it out helps to rid the area of excess fluids.

Best of luck!!  

Answer 2

Well, for starters your fist angle was out of alignment. Next was, your fist wasn't tight enough when you punched the bag.

It sounds like just some soft tissue damage, mainly to the tendons. That trauma would cause a stiffness in the back of your hand.

If your actual knuckles are sore to the touch especially when you press them you could have torn the ligaments or tendons. There's really nothing you can do except give it some time and go easy on you hands.

This is one of the main reasons young (I realize you're not) people should refrain from punching a heavy bag or faces as these types of injuries could in some cases reduce the dexterity of the hands.

I have this issue with my middle finger knuckles from punching steel years ago.

Focus on your fist to arm alignment and don't go crazy on the bag until you get it down.