Hey,
I very recently bruised my knuckle and it has been swollen for a couple of days but its going down. I love pad work and bag work, and I would like to get back into it as soon as possible, especially since I have a grading coming up in a week and a bit. Does anyone know around how long that takes to heal? is it a matter of days or weeks?

How did you bruise your knuckle?

I punched this guy for looking at me!
Joke!

I was doing pad work with focus pads and my pad man was this guy who just joined us and I wanted to show him what pad work was like, so he held the pad in the most weird angle and sloppy and as i chain punched it he moved it, I hit the wall behind him full power.

The thing is sometimes it hurts and sometimes it doesnt, and from experience from injuries its best to let them heal completely, so I was just wandering how long something like that takes.

About the same time as it'll take for you to stop being an idiot and going for a pad that's held against a wall.

thank you for the sympathy and the advice, I really apreciate it.

I almost mistook it for humour, but then I realised you had none

Don't worry about him.

From my own experiences, it takes about a week.

Thats if you take good care of it and rest it well.

Depends on how hard you hit the wall. I did the classic stupid "I'm a guy, I'm angry, I'm going to hit the wall" thing. Hurt me for about 3 months at least. Of course I was still going to MA classes at the time and hitting pads, people, etc.

Just be careful with it. Also avoid hitting walls.

Ha. That reminds me of my friend at one of our tests. We had to break a board with a spinning back fist, but we had to hit it a certain way so we wouldn't hurt our knuckles (we had to turn it so that we would be hitting the board with the fleshy side of the hand *nearest to the pinky*). Well, I did it fine, but then it was her turn and she, uh, forgot to turn her hand, and hit the thing with full force. She broke it, thankfully, but she also busted a pretty big blood vessel (in her right hand too. Not good for writing!). She has also recently broken her pinky from carrying 4 fajita skillets and slipping while at work. Yikes.
I'd say you just need to keep ice on it every hour. I hope you recover soon!

Did you get ice on it straight away? If so, then it increases chances of a speedy recovery a lot. If you've damaged the ligament that actually makes up the knuckle, you could be waiting months.

BTW, ouch! I did that 20 years ago and broke 3 bones in my hand. Had it X-Rayed?

when I was dumber and 15 years prettier , I punched into a speaker cabinet from the rear of a speaker and smashed my middle knuckle on the woofer magnet inside. dumb and drunk. hurt for 2 months, I didn't go to the hospital and it never really set right. now it's acually an asset having the middle knuckle slightly larger. it's the reason I eventually changed to vertical (and later 3/4) fist punching since the knuckle was throwing my wrist alignment off hitting makiwara with full twist.

The ligament huh?
I m not sure, maybe...

It is better now, and I can do pad work with out it hurting, but it certainly looks different to my other knuckle.
I havent had an x-ray, is there a way I can tell if it is the ligament or the bone? by feeling it or something, or any tell tale signs?

Ahh, recovery, my area of expertise (unlike spelling)

bruised bone takes longer to heal then bruised flesh.

use common sense

if it's really bad get it checked out by your doctor or chiropractor etc.

for inflamation:
when it aches put an ice pack on it,
3 min on then 3 min off

for pain:
take Advil or Tylenol (use as recomended on the bottle)

for the bruise it self:
get a liniment for bruising, some work better then others.

good luck!

You area of expertise and your advise is to put ice on it, take paracetamol and to use my common sense?
Gee dude..thanks!
But seriously, as always, it ll just heal itself, thanks for the advice though guys,

why bother doing anything other than going to the ER? you guys in Canada and UK get national health care right? we in the US however need to take a 2nd mortgage out to pass a gallstone. last winter, I sliced my finger damn near down to the bone and the first thing that came to mind before going to the hospital was "I wonder what my balance is in my checking."
lol (I'm laughing because I want to scream at how dumb the US health care non-system is.)

No one in this country wants to go to A&E. (ER,US)
You have to book 3 weeks off of work just for the waiting time to be seen. Then when you are seen you get referred to another clinic in 3 months time.
All the while sitting in a waiting room with drunk people bleeding everywhere.
Then theres the M.R.S.A. problem...stop me now or I'll be on one all night!

MAGr,
The ligament is what makes the bulge of the knuckle.
Hold your hand flat, palm side down and press down either side of the knuckle. What you feel there is the bone.
If that is where it hurts, my sympathy.
Oh well, just make sure you use plenty of the alcoholic rub after you touch any door handles!

Yo thats exactly where it hurts!
Not at the top of the knuckle but inside or at least when I press down around it on the side.
So....ummm that means that what exactly?

No way am I going to an A&E, I went there once with a snapped forearm where the bone was sticking out of the flesh and I had to wait 2 hours for a friggin painkiller, for a bruised knuckle it will have probably healed on its own by the time they see me!

I think that means that you bruised the bone and that takes awhile to heal. What I meant by common sense was if it hurts like hell all the time and doesn't go away for a long time then obviously you should get it looked at by a doctor, but I understand what you mean by waiting so long at a hospital, awhile ago I had an accident and smashed the back of my hand and it swelled up pretty bad, then I went to the hospital, waited for 3 hours and the doctor told me I broke a couple of blood vessels in the back of my hand and I should just take some tylenol and ice it. so guess what? I'm saving you a long wait in a hospital by telling you to ice it and take a tylenol. Just trying to help out.

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awhile ago I had an accident and smashed the back of my hand and it swelled up pretty bad, then I went to the hospital, waited for 3 hours and the doctor told me I broke a couple of blood vessels in the back of my hand and I should just take some tylenol and ice it. so guess what? I'm saving you a long wait in a hospital by telling you to ice it and take a tylenol. Just trying to help out.

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LOL,
You are probably right! Thaks dude, this indeed has saved me time, because thinking about it thats what they would tell me

On a side note though, I want to make it clear that I do not blame the doctors, those dudes are overworked and are doing one of the most important services to society. I admire them.

Why seek medical help from a forum?

If you don't care about "a little pain", arthritis 20 years down the line or one massive knuckle (girls REALLY like 'em - deformities, that is) keep taking questionable advice.

Although I've dedicated 28 years to karate, I've never felt like a weenie going to the ER when I was injured (& I don't mean an owie).

BTW: I remember a 16 y/o kid who used to punch holes in walls when he got mad. Cheap drywall. They decided to use a lite-set cement after tiring of the constant patching. Next time our friend got dramatic, he broke his hand.

Take care of it now or you'll be the moderator for the new catagory "MA Injuries & How I got Them".

Quote:

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Why seek medical help from a forum?

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Because I was hoping to get advice from people who have already been through a bruised knuckle and in a martial arts forum there might be a good chance of getting some good advice. I have had injuries and I could give some good insight into them since I experienced them first hand. Obviously it doesnt beat medical assistance but I am not going to a doctor for a bruised knuckle, I m not made out of sugar

Its actually stopped hurting now and its very near its normal size again. I used some dit dat jow which helped a lot especially during pad work