The bottom line
Ash's pinky bent again after a horse bite left her with a compound fracture and a pin in the finger's middle joint. When she started occupational therapy at Thrive Spine & Sports Rehab in New Jersey, the finger couldn't bend at all. Next, her therapy worked on straightening it, in step with her doctor's follow-ups.
- Ash
- Farm worker
- Pinky
- Compound fracture
- Bend
- From none to some
- Up next
- Straightening it
A horse bite and a broken pinky
On December 23, Ash was turning a horse out on the farm where she works when he panicked and caught his leg in the gate. As she tried to free it, he turned his head and bit her, and she nearly lost her finger.
The bite left a compound fracture of her pinky, a break with the skin over it torn open, and a pin in the finger's middle joint. At the end of February she came to us for post-surgery rehab, and by then the finger couldn't bend at all.
Bend first, then straighten
Her occupational therapy went after range of motion first, getting the pinky to bend. Our occupational therapist worked the finger by hand, gently bending and stretching its joints, and used instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization, a small metal tool run along the finger to loosen the tissue that stiffens around a healing break. Once it bent, the focus moved to straightening it: the joint nearest the fingertip still sat a little bent, and a straighter, flatter finger is easier to use.
After an injury like this, we move therapy forward in step with the patient's doctor, so the next stage of Ash's would come after her upcoming follow-up.
Bending again
Ash's pinky bent again, and we were working hard with her on getting it straighter.
Key takeaways
- Ash, who works on a farm, got a compound fracture of her pinky when a horse bit her, and a pin was put in the finger's middle joint.
- When Ash started occupational therapy at Thrive Spine & Sports Rehab at the end of February, her broken pinky couldn't bend at all. Therapy got it bending again.
- Ash's occupational therapy at Thrive combined hands-on bending and stretching of her broken pinky with instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization. Once the finger could bend, the work turned to straightening it so it would be easier to use.
- Thrive progressed Ash's occupational therapy for her broken pinky alongside her doctor, building the next stage on her follow-up visit.
