...if you are in France, anyway. Here's some text about the injury called "mallet finger" that our American friend Ellen, a longtime Paris resident, alerted me to. If you have mallet finger:
Vous remarquez que vous ne pouvez plus étendre complètement l'extrémité du doigt. La dernière phalange reste fléchie, elle "ne repond plus". Ces constatations suffisent pour faire le diagnostic de "mallet-finger" ou « doigt en maillet » par analogie avec le maillet du piano. Cet accident est très fréquent au cours d'activités sportives (ballon, sports de combat) ou professionnelles. Mais le plus souvent, c'est en faisant le lit, au moment où l'on glisse les draps sous le matelas.
La perte de l'extension de la dernière phalange est due à la rupture du tendon extenseur. Lors d'un mouvement de flexion forçée du doigt (choc d'un ballon ou accrochage du doigt à la face inférieure du matelas) l'étirement brutale du tendon entraîne sa rupture. Le plus souvent, cette rupture fermée ne s'accompagne ni de douleur ni d'ecchymose, et c'est la constatation de la déformation du doigt qui fait le diagnostic.
The finger splint — an elegant design. What does it look like to you?
I used Google Translate and then cleaned up the English a little bit — that let me avoid a lot of typing:
You will notice that you can not fully extend the finger tip. The last joint remains bent down; you have no control over it. This fact alone is sufficient to validate the diagnosis of "mallet finger" (by analogy with the mallets in a piano). This kind of injury is very common during sports activities (ball games, combat sports) or in the performance of work tasks. But more often, it happens to someone who is making up a bed and tucking the sheets around and under the mattress.
Loss of extension of the distal phalanx is due to rupture of the extensor tendon. During a forced flexion movement of the finger (a ball impact, for example, or jamming your finger on the side of the mattress), abrupt stretching causes the finger tendon tendon to rupture. Most often, this internal rupture entails neither pain nor bruising, and it's the deformed finger that confirms the diagnosis...
So as Ellen told me, maybe the details of my accident are an indication that I am truly becoming integrated into French society.
I know you are joking but why is it a french thing ? I think I misunderstood ..
ReplyDeleteIn the U.S. mallet finger is also called "baseball finger" — yes, just joking. I haven't seen any mention of bed-making in English-language articles describing mallet finger.
DeleteIt looks like a little metal animal to me....
ReplyDeleteleft to right.... a small terrier...
right to left... a squirrel with a bushy tail.
Have you got any voice recognition software...
so that you can "tell" us a story?
Justathort....
To me it looks sort of like a dolphin hanging off the side of a swimming pool.
Deleteso the lesson to be learned here is DO NOT MAKE UP THE BED!
ReplyDeleteworks for me; I detest house chores!
It's about time!
ReplyDeleteChm, Lol! I wouldn't be surprised if you had something to do with it :^)
DeleteKen, to me the splint looks like a minimalist 'Swedish' design statue of Callie looking over the garden fence. Except for the colours, of course :)
ReplyDeleteThat is a good interpretation, Martine. Callie does strike that pose when she notices another dog passing by.
DeleteYikes! Beware the bed making!
ReplyDeleteNow... I did see on the first mallet finger info site you sent us to that the splint is SO important that, should you accidentally bend your finger during the 6 weeks or so of healing time, you have to start ALL OVER AGAIN with the healing process. So put that splint back on!
Judy, I went to the pharmacy and bought a second splint so that I can carefully take one off when it is wet and carefully slip the second, dry one on — without letting my finger bend. The fewer times I have to take one off and put the other on, the better. Tomorrow I'm going out to find some latex or rubber gloves I can put on the injured hand so that I won't have to change splints so often.
DeleteKen, you're always a step ahead of us :) Good thinking all around.
DeleteI got mallet finger last year doing stretching exercises. To be safe, I kept the splint on for 12 weeks, and was very careful when taking it off to clean. Not fun. And the splint was much more rudimentary than yours. But in the end, it healed perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that, Bob. It makes me feel more optimistic about the recovery process. I'm being careful not to let my finger bend when I change splints.
DeleteTo me it looks a little like a horse about to jump an fence.
ReplyDeleteBe careful changing that splint and what a great excuse not to make the bed ;-) or other housework come to that!
My smartphone has voice recognition software -- perhaps your tablet does too and you could dictate and then copy/past to blogger to save you typing.
I'll look into using the tablet that way, A. & N. Meanwhile, I'm getting pretty good at typing with just six fingers.
DeleteWhat does it look like to me? It looks like the three splints we have in our medicine closet. In our house, you wreck your finger while playing soccer.
ReplyDeleteReplyDelete
Chris, I hope you all don't have to use the splints very often.
DeleteI would say that photo is of a hitherto unknown Matisse sculpture of a dog that's spotted food on the table
ReplyDeleteI can see that.
DeleteTo me, it looks like someone making a bed. They had better be careful where they put their fingers…..
ReplyDeleteGlad you have a diagnosis and a remedy. And Walt is going to be making the bed for the next few weeks.
Uh oh, wait a minute. What does this splint look like to me?? Well... ummm.... like a dog getting ready to hump something! *LOL* Sorry, can't help it! And, since we've gone that far.... maybe a person.... well.... there's no need to sully the reputation of your blog comments. I'll say no more.
ReplyDeleteLooks like a mini saddle
ReplyDelete