I managed to lose my cool about 2 weeks ago and punch my office desk. (It was a good punch to, from about 8 inches away. All with the right knuckles, good wrist rotation.) I immediantly felt a sharp sting in my two most prominent knuckles. (Thats right, no _ing _un punching here.) After a while the sting went away but my pointing finger was left with decreased mobility.

It's been two weeks and I have full range of motion, and it's fine now. No swelling, its not sensitive to the touch. However when I hit something dense it feels like a bee sting!

Perhaps I cracked it or something.

I've been taking calcuim and vit D. I've laid off hitting ANYTHING with it.
I'm ready for it to hurry up and get healed. No bag work, no pad work or sparring makes Seraphim a sad boy.

Are there any supplements or oitments that could speed the process? I've read about Dot Jow or something, but I saw it in the context of crazy kungfu practioners :(

I'm sure several of you have had a broken knuckle so I know I can get some upfront advice.

P.S If you feel so inclined do feel free to drop off a few derogatory Haiku or something. All I ask is that if you are going to leave a nasty hate filled message, do please leave some useful advice aswell.:new_tomat

My sympathy, I got over excited training tonight and broke a metacarpal. I shall be watching this thread closely.
something like glucosamine might be worth a try, isn't that supposed to be good for joints? maybe?

Go for an X-ray, best idea really. We can't tell if it's really busted or not over the Internet.

Who said board breaking was useless?

I would press down directly on the knuckle. If you can push down on it and it gives way like it is spongy, then you definitely broke the knuckle. If not, then you may just have a deep bruise.

Based on my experience, it will take a good 1 1/2 - 2 months before you can hit a hard target with full power again if your knuckle is broken. I don't know of anything other than time and rest that will get it to heal faster. Instead of being bummed, I would suggest that you take this opportunity to further develop your jab and striking with your weaker side.

Just go see a doctor.... hmm, oh yeah, I don't masturbate vigorously, unless you use your feet.

fetishist.

How long does it take to heal a broken knuckle?

What did the doctor tell you?

With no xray you are flirting with the possibility of it not healing correctly and losing ROM.

Crowey:

How'd you manage that? I hope your partner lived...

El Macho:

Nothing stands in the way of masterbation. Not you...broken knuckles, my recently crashed hard drive with all my 3d Artwork, and webpages I built for work. Thats right. I backed up the porn on DVDS!

THX-1138:

I know man. And your scrowling avatar reminds me of that in my dreams. I asked a doctor, but stoped short of 'seeing' a doctor. ::seppuku::



I work part time at a car-wash. (Yeah hey, I like a couple extra hundred in the bank a month). Anyway it's owned by a surgeon with too much money and time on his hands. Cool guy. I asked him about it. He seems to think its just a bad bone bruise because:

I still have full range of motion after 3+ weeks.
No stiffness.
Not swollen or tender.

His advice: "Don't hit anything with it. If you need a free X-ray come by the hospital while I'm there"
I may take him up on it just because it'd be free.

Thanks to all that gave input. On a side note, I've been able to spar with NO side effects with these:

http://mmawarehouse.com/oua-1003.html

The Quano Shooto Gloves. Pure Excellence. Please don't hate me.

Unfortunately Im still sitting here with a broken knuckle and its been many months. I was looking on the internet for forums in reguards to this issue. Here I am registering an account with BS. net.
Honestly when I broke my knuckle it hurt, the common name for the pain one gets is a 'bee sting'. Suppose I felt a similar pain as well. Discoloration, yellow, brown, blue, all the colors of the rainbow at one point or another. Unfortunately I began to notice as it healed. Now some 5 months later, my knuckle has repositioned its self and no longer sits where it should. When I make a fist it moves up and over where it might naturally lay. Only its merely bone and cartillage tissue floating, when I straighten my fingers/hand out the pile of tissue moves down or away from my fingers about an 3/4 of an inch. your fingers move from ligiments in your hand, your knuckle does not have much to do with motion. More of a 'structure'. Now if.. I try not to with my right hand. Now if I strike with my right fist too hard, especially putting the most of pressure on that knuckle, its painful and in most cases swells a bit with the bruising that follows. Someone mentioned it feels mushy. Yes. This is true as well. Its uncomfortable mushy. I recommend getting that x-rayed ASAP. If they have to set it, nows the time, or you'll have more arthritis issues to add to the list. Best of luck, I found this interesting for knuckle replacements.
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/library/AR/00014.html

Well... I did Isshinryu with the most INSANE people on the planet for that stuff. I mean they actually believed breaking your hand was a good idea....

Nine months; if you broke it, its gonna be bad for about nine months.

My left hand's middle knuckle had a moveable, sore semi-squishy lump on it the size of a marble that took 2 years to slowly shrink away.

My instructor's friend who was sort-of a sometimes instructor of mine also encouraged me to break my knuckles on his makiwara which was just a bare flat board with some sway fitted to a floor stand.

I had no idea what the lump was. I'd never broken anything except nose/teeth, not even a toe, so I imagined breaking a bone would have some climactic signal to tell me to stop hitting the board or take time off instead of half-assing it and drawing it out longer.

I didn't have the internet to explain all this stuff to me when I was younger and more stupid.

Missing posts moved here: PT forum detritus - No BS MMA and Martial Arts (http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=94935)

My right hand is more of a claw:

Two broken fingers, broken wrist capsule (Engrish?), damaged tendon sheath two broken knuckles.

Was well for years, but hurts every day since I restarted kickboxing.

Looks like I will eventually have to switch to a grappling art, or stop MAs altogether.

Currently trying to switch to southpaw, but duuuuh, that's hard.

The same I advice to the OP, should the wound linger.

While we're on the topic, this is the best article I've ever seen for training with a hand injury

http://www.elitefts.com/documents/knife_game.htm

I heard breaking the knuckle is suppose to work. Oddly enough, i was having the same "sting" that was referred to in my left knuckle when i'd hit the bag raw, and usually when i felt that i'd back off and put gloves on. Well i was hitting it the other day pretty lightly like 60-70% power thinking i wouldn't feel it especially hitting on the less dense areas of my bag buttttt i felt it and then went back to lifting. Later that night (after feeling nothing else after this lil incident) i go to the bathroom, and as i'm washing my hands i am startled at the sight of my knuckle being the size of the earth. Totally thought i got messed up by a spider but alas it was my knuckle being broken and it took a good 5 hours to actually take effect, is that normal? Never went to the doctors either, probably gonna look into that tho.