How can I help my finger continue to regain feeling after severed nerve?

May 1, 2013 12:50 PM

I 7 months ago cut deeply into my finger and severed the nerve on the outside of my right ring finger. If you separate the finger into sections, it is injured at 20% up the finger from the hand. I had surgery to reconnect the nerve, and it slowly regained feeling but according to the doctor should be finished by now, i have feeling 70% of the way up the finger, and it has plateaued there for the past 3 months. Any ideas or tips on how to get the rest back? The doctor says if when I poke at the site of the wound if I feel tingles running down the finger, that is a good sign, and I do feel that! But haven't had any improvements in months.. any ideas?
posted by crawltopslow to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

I feel for you. Literally? Rather... I don't feel for you. I had nerve damage in my toes (frostbite) and have nerve issues in my limbs (repetitive strain, pinched nerves, going numb at night all the way down my body etc). The nerve isn't a muscle so it can't be "exercised" back to normal... in fact I think the opposite. Just rest it up.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:05 PM on May 1, 2013

Have you had physical therapy for the finger and done exercises? If not, you may want to look into that.
posted by kinetic at 1:17 PM on May 1, 2013

Response by poster: I haven't done physical therapy for it.. exercises?
posted by crawltopslow at 1:20 PM on May 1, 2013

One of my kids had to have most of her arm reattached after an accident and she needed months of weekly PT sessions as well as at least an hour daily of exercises.

She was picking up Cheerios with her thumb and forefinger, thumb and middle fingers, etc., using different types of squishy clay to mold into balls with one hand, stuff like that.

I'd call the surgeon and see if they recommend a PT in particular. If not, I'd call around, explain the injury and ask what they think they can do. It would probably be only a few sessions and you learning to do the exercises at home.
posted by kinetic at 1:30 PM on May 1, 2013

Response by poster: I had the nerve re-attached in surgery.
posted by crawltopslow at 1:49 PM on May 1, 2013

I would ask your doctor for clarification as to what he's calling "done by now".

It does sound like your nerves are regrowing/have regrown. It does not mean you will have totally normal sensation in 7 months, or ever again.

I cut off a smaller chunk of my thumb pad/nail bed about 10 months ago. (and also wrote an askme about it) I do have sensation in it. It isn't like normal, it's somewhat diminished/numb, but it's enough to keep me from smacking it, sticking it on a hot stove, etc. The nerves are functional. Its telling the rest of my body that "hey you have a finger here!"

Do you have normal use of your finger? A full range of motion and strength? Those are things you shouldn't accept loosing and should pursue with your doctor.
posted by fontophilic at 1:58 PM on May 1, 2013

I had a pinched nerve in my arm a while back, which affected my ability to use my wrist. What worked best to improve it (after the initial long period of rest) was to go dancing and use my wrist a lot in weightbearing ways until it hurt a bit, and then give it several days of near-complete rest. That worked better than a regimen of only rest.

(Nonetheless, progress was haphazard. Some weeks were better, some were a lot worse, and sometimes I felt like I lost an entire month's worth of progress in a few days. But eventually everything healed up fine. So it's certainly possible that your 3-month plateau is a stage and not the final healing point of your finger nerve.)

A pinched nerve is not the same thing as a severed nerve, but both involve nerves growing as part of the healing process. So if you can get it to hurt at all, that might be a useful starting point for getting it to feel normal.
posted by danceswithlight at 2:04 PM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

I had the nerve re-attached in surgery.

Yeah, my daughter did as well. She had almost all of her nerves and other parts reattached.

All I know is that despite all projections, her injured arm works almost as well as her uninjured arm.

She actually works as a surgical assistant now which requires good fine motor skills.

My understanding is that it's because she really worked hard at her PT that she was able to regain use of her arm (and hand).

I can't imagine it would be any different for a finger.
posted by kinetic at 2:06 PM on May 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

Hand therapists (I know, sounds like a job from a Pynchon novel) exist and are a better choice then physical therapists; the hand is a whole different territory for rehab than any other area of the body. Because of this, I doubt any physical therapist would even see you. It can be tricky to get hand therapy covered by insurance, though (ask me how I know, ugh). They're the people who could best help you with this, though -- the only ones. Here's a link to a general page about hand therapy with a directory that could net you some referrals.
posted by sweltering at 2:20 PM on May 1, 2013

And nthing physical therapy of some kind, as that seems to be the real point of my dance-and-rest routine described above.
posted by danceswithlight at 2:23 PM on May 1, 2013

I had a benign bone tumor removed and packed with cadaver graft on the distal end of a middle finger. I had two sessions of hand physical therapy with homework exercises. They all involved bending the finger at each joint section over and over and slowly curling and stuff. I found it hurt less when I did it in the shower under hot water. I was also told to rub cocoa butter into the scar after the wound had healed enough and that it (and the massage it engendered) would break up growing scar tissue and lead to a healthier scar site.
posted by vegartanipla at 2:56 PM on May 1, 2013

I fully severed the nerves in two of my fingers in the late '90s, and then had them surgically re-attached. It took at least 4-5 years for me to regain a full range of sensitivity. And then I was hyper-sensitive at times (like, a gentle tap would cause a spike of pain) for another 2-3 years after that.

Today, I can only tell which fingers were sliced and which weren't by looking to see which hand is the one with the scars.

I don't know how to solve the problem, but I will encourage you not to give up hope. My healing process plateaued several times over the years and then seemed to kick back in to gear again.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 3:30 PM on May 1, 2013 [2 favorites]

Just to be totally clear, hand therapy *is* physical therapy, it's just that some PTs specialize in it because hands are complicated. I went to a hand specialist when my RA first got diagnosed and that's all she did, but she was a normal physical therapist who belonged to a multi-site group and there was no distinction around insurance or whatever.
posted by restless_nomad at 4:09 PM on May 1, 2013

I used to have a numb spot on an injured foot and some other problems of that ilk. A combo of coconut oil, glyconutrients, sea salt, b vitamins and high cholesterol foods helped resolve those issues. That doesn't mean those specific things will work for you, but they might. I did a whole lot of things to resolve other health issues. Improvement in damaged nerves was a somewhat unexpected side benefit, though the cholesterol and b vitamins were done specifically to support neurological issues (brain and nerves).

So you could basically try to support healing nutritionally on the theory that it takes resources to rebuild and a "normal" diet only provides resources for maintenance. I consumed the high cholesterol foods to help with my neurological problems because I knew babies and toddlers need a high fat, high cholesterol diet (compared to an adult) to support brain growth. So I would make bacon and eggs and have toast with organic butter slathered on it, etc and then I would sleep real hard. There was often noticeable improvement the same day, following my nap. (Like I could finally string coherent sentences together.)
posted by Michele in California at 4:22 PM on May 1, 2013

I had carpal and cubital tunnel releases on both arms. I had to wait a looong time to get the surgeries and by the time I did, I was dropping forks, cups, pencils, everything. I was almost completely numb and without control of my hands. It took a good year after the surgeries for the nerve pain to completely go away. It took another four or five years before I got close to full feeling back. (I was an LMT so am probably more sensitive than most to fine sensation/pressure gradients.)

The hand specialist that I saw said it was normal for nerves to take years to regain full sensation. PT will help with keeping good range of motion and strength, but only time heals nerves.
posted by PorcineWithMe at 4:39 PM on May 1, 2013

Keep moving it. If it doesn't move, move it with your other hand. Repeatedly. Oh...and go to PT and they will tell you the same thing.
posted by brownrd at 4:59 PM on May 1, 2013

I have nerve damage from surgery in my knee (a benign tumour that went untreated for five years) - I had a reasonably normal recovery but what changed a lot of things was yoga and massage 10 years later. I thought the nerve recovery was done and dusted (when the electric shock type sensations ceased entirely) but there was something about the use and massage in yoga that really helped.
posted by geek anachronism at 6:23 PM on May 1, 2013

Axonotmesis. Recovery is always incomplete.
posted by Protocols of the Elders of Sockpuppetry at 12:36 AM on May 2, 2013

I suffered a deep cut into my hand between my little finger and ring finger, which severed the nerve. I was offered surgery to re-attach the nerve only after I mentioned that I was a musician and was worried about my ability to play. I was never offered any kind of PT.

That was about 6 years ago, and I still don't have full feeling back. There are parts of my ring finger that are completely numb, and I have that tingly feeling right down one side. The doctor told me that it would take a year to tell if I would ever regain normal feeling in it again. I still get stabs of pain if I hit it by accident in certain places.

I actually feel quite encourage by croutonsupafreak's story, hopefully the healing process is still going!
posted by drunkonthemoon at 1:57 AM on May 2, 2013