Deathgrip related?

March 24, 2008 12:37 PM

Knuckles: A few days ago I woke up with a bad grinding feeling in my right hand knuckles.

The bones in the knuckles of my middle and ring fingers feel grindy, and also clicky. Where the motion to make a fist is usually smooth and seamless, and still is on my left hand, on my right it's really exaggerated and clicky. Usually at some point during the day it gets smoother and less weird/bad feeling, but by the time I wake up in the morning it feels weird and bad again.

I know you're not a doctor or my doctor, but I'm not even sure what search terms to use, though any combination of "grinding" "knuckles" "clicking" didn't really do much.

The only thing I can think of is that I might've been doing a deathgrip on my bike handles lately, but even then, I don't know what to call it or what I should do about it. Also, there's no swelling or bruising or anything.

Can I expect it to just go away? Do I need more serious medical attention? Do I have arthritis? Help!

posted by birdie birdington to health (3 comments total)

There is something called "trigger finger" that affects the ring and middle finger and causes the joints to "snap" or get stuck in place. It's possible that it's caused by Rheumatoid arthritis, that's where I get it from. But it can just be an isolated incident too.
posted by saffry at 2:53 PM on March 24

I'm not a doctor, but as far as deathgrip biking goes you could have some kind of irritation or other problem with the nerves in your wrist. This would cause your fingers to feel grindy, but it might actually be the nerves doing a bit of a twitch as you use them. Wristy nerve damage (CTS, particularly) is common in biking with the nerve that passes through the wrist getting compressed and possibly damaged by road shock. If you can move the joints on the problem fingers with your other hand without them being grindy, I'd lean toward nerve/muscle problems. Not necessarily permanent, but there you go.
posted by rhizome at 3:12 PM on March 24

Thanks guys! Nerve damage fits the bill, especially as I just woke from a nap sleeping on the wrist all weird and it felt worse again. And I wouldn't have thought of it.
posted by birdie birdington at 7:41 PM on March 24