OK, a little dramatic over here. Anyways, so my 4th finger middle joint was injected for some redness/tenderness on the bony parts, that was in early February. It hurt like nobody's business afterwards, but cleared it up great. Now it's starting to get generally a bit swollen and fat (?some dactylitis) which I've never had before, but I'm getting this weird sensation when I bend my finger: it feels like the joint is creaking like a door, and maybe just a little bit of very fine crackling feeling as well. ??? Is this from the fluid, or ?? It feels very weird in there ...

I'm not liking this hand involvement situation. I also have my 3rd finger middle joint looking lumpy and red over the knuckle, getting worse, not better, with morning stiffness and just generally making me nervous. I need my hands!!!

Advice/experiences appreciated, thanks.

a few tendons in my hands are "crunchy" / "creaky". the hand PT explained why to me a long time ago, don't exactly remember the details to why.

she did show me how if i passively move the finger that puts fluid into the tendon sheath and then it doesn't creak for a few bends.

at one point i tore a ligament in one of my fingers. not exactly sure how. i think maybe turning a key in a door. though really just kinda woke up like that one day. it proceeded to get worse and worse over the month. couldn't bend it, it was so big and fat. and yes, it creaked. then just as mysteriously, the swelling went down and the problem disappeared.

during the month, when i went to the hand surgeon (for something else, the torn ligament in my ulnar wrist), i had him look at the finger. he told me i tore a ligament. when i showed my dismay, especially considering, "how do you tear something, without even doing anything." he was rather annoyed at my concern and told me, "we could cut off that finger and you wouldn't even miss it." that was one of the few times i cried walking out of a doctors office. i guess we don't really need an index finger like we do other body parts. but still, that wasn't very nice. i guess he had had a hard day.

anyway, sounds like the tendon / ligament stuff i used to get, though i guess it could be something else.

Hi

I have had this in my fingers, often painful for about six months and then goes away on its own. I never do steroid injections anymore. Did all that in my 20-30's. but now have all the complications of steroid use. I hope with time it will pass . My toes were the worse for me, and I have one toe that was left with very little joint left. It is permanently curled down, but not fused. My latest finger to swell and be painful has settled down and I have no problems with the finger now. I wish you the same for your finger pain.

Janet

Try googling tenosynovitis and see if it matches up to what you are feeling.

And Janet, my toes have done the curling down and I had to have tendon releases on 2 of them when they couldn't fit in my roomy sneakers. One is fused, but doesn't seem to be causing issues with my shoes now. Two more toes are doing it now. At the first sign of them getting worse than they are right now, I'll be back to the doc to have those tendons released. Did the other two last summer--a mess to do both feet at same time, but worth the shortened recovery time.

I had exactly the same thing happen to me. It started with the soreness and slight swelling and then gradually turned deep red and swollen. It stayed like this for a few days and then disappeared. I took a photo of it and mentioned it to my doctor. It has since happened again, exactly the same finger. Very odd. Someone mentioned dactylitis on the forum to me. Another symptom to add to all the others!!! Hope it clears up soon.