Injury layoff

Injury is such a drag.

In all the years that I have played basketball I have not had a serious injury (touch wood).  Of course excluding sprained ankles, jarred fingers, pulled muscle.  The last one was probably a small lower back muscle strain - leaving my back in spasms for about a week or two.

So it certainly came as a surprise when I was playing basketball a few months back and I dislocated my pinkie.  It definitely looked out of place and I think I was in a a bit of shock as I saw the position it was in and that as much as I wanted to, I could not bend it.  Instinctively I grabbed it with my other hand and my thoughts after I didn't feel too much pain was to put it back into place. Didn't think it would be too bad, but I pulled it up over the other bone.  My thinking was - isn't this normal as people just pop back their shoulders, right?  Having not had such an injury before, I tested my finger was bending ok, telescoped it to check if there was any pain and then taped up the finger to continue to play.  The finger did feel rather weak though (could not pass or shoot), so after around 10 more minutes, decided to wind down.
 Not thinking too much of it, the finger did swell up and by the next day, the bruising was quite apparent.  By then I was unable to bend my finger and I was worried about tingling sensation - was this because of the swelling or had I misaligned it and was compressing a nerve?  Perhaps a younger me would have shrugged it off, but I thought better of it.....after I heard from a doctor friend that it was best to get an X-ray.  Awesome.  By then it was later in the day and so I had to get myself to a hospital with outpatient service and managed to get in - after a long wait due to number of people and prioritisation.

The X-ray cam back clear and the doctor even asked, "Did you take a photo of the finger at the time of the incident?".  As politely as I could muster I said "Um...no."  Unfortunately this could be because the doctor believed that the finger positioning was not quite right.  I eventually left with a brace and wore that for a while and then buddy taped my finger.

A month later, I saw a GP as the joint was still swollen and stiff - but mentioned that it was likely due to lack of movement and stated that I could play some basketball and maybe some light gym work. Also suggested to keep moving the finger and other areas to restrengthen my finger and associated muscles.

It's been two months and it is still not quite right yet - but perhaps age is slowing that healing process!  Played basketball again and managed to jar that same finger again.  What a drag!