# Pain in finger joints



## Ivan (Jun 22, 2019)

I do a variant of Traditional Ju Jitsu, Taekwondo and some Capoeira. I used to do boxing on and off but I stopped full on about a year ago maybe more. Whilst I did boxing, after a sparring round or a set of the bags had finished, and I relaxed my hands (inside or outside of the gloves) my fingers would begin to go really sore, but I thought it was normal and the pain would go away after a while. I stopped since I had some disagreements with the coach, and here I am some time later.

When I stopped boxing, I soon began TKD and never had any experiences with the finger pain again until very recently; about a week or two ago, my dad set me up with a private boxing coach. We have booked 10 x 1 hour sessions of just pure boxing and technique. I have so far had two sessions; in the first I experienced wrist pain, since he kept meeting my punches with the pads a bit too roughly (he's a huge bloke, about 6 foot 5) and also the finger pain. The second session was yesterday, 21st June 2019, and this time we wrapped my hands up very well; we used tape and also put a chunk of cleaning sponges under the wraps to protect my knuckles. But my finger pain flared up again, and worse. He knows about the pain, and I told him that I thought it was normal, but it isn't.

Today, I was at taekwondo and everything was fine. I even had sparring and my fingers and hands were absolutely fine. I walked to the gym afterwards and began my back workout with a set of pullups. Whilst I did the pull ups there was no pain whatsoever, but as soon as I let go of the pullup bar, it flared up immensely. It took me about 1 or 2 minutes for it to clear up, and I couldn't even move my fingers from the pain. The sroeness is mainly located on the joints directly after the knuckles; the joints inbetween your knuckle, and the fingernail joint. I have booked an appointment with my GP for next monday, 1st July.

I don't know what is going on and as a hypochondirac I panic immensely about these types of things; mainly anything that could stop me from doing martial arts. Please note, that I have played videogames immensely in the past. I would spend entire weekends glued to the screen and I wouldnt have any problems - I have played on keyboards and controllers. I play nowadays too, but considerably less. For example, with exam period a couple around March/May-ish, I took a 2 month hiatus from games compeltely. Every now and then I'll get 3-5 hours to myself, if I'm lucky, but I am mostly dedicated to colelge and training. Right now, and yesterday after the session, my fingers simply felt exhausted, though it feels as if the pain is in the joints rather than the muscles, I can't be sure.

Any ideeas as to what this is? Will it heal? What should I do while I wait for my appointment? I'm at my wits end...


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## jobo (Jun 22, 2019)

well if you've not been boxing for over 12 months its not surprising they hurt if you spend a long time hard punching, try strengthening the fingers using grip strengthened and you wrist doing finger push upd, and stop punching so hard whilst you get used to it, you only need to punch someone hard once in a contest or 10 times a round if their very resilient  there no great benefit from punching flat out on pads for a plelonged period of time. you just get over use injuries


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## Ivan (Jun 22, 2019)

jobo said:


> well if you've not been boxing for over 12 months its not surprising they hurt if you spend a long time hard punching, try strengthening the fingers using grip strengthened, and stop punching so hard whilst you get used to it, you only need to punch someone hard once in a contest or three times a round if their very resilient  there no great benefit from punching flat out for a plelonged period of time. you just get over use injuries


I don't do any sparring with the coach, just pads and bag work and drills.


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## jobo (Jun 22, 2019)

Ivan said:


> I don't do any sparring with the coach, just pads and bag work and drills.


how hard are you punching the pads / bag and for how long ?

and what benefit did it give you, in an actual contest, getting one good punch to connect solidly is a good achievement, and they should fall over or at least sway a bit, pubching a heavy bag may condition the hands, but you need to build that up over time, by either doing less time punching or not punching as hard and even then you don't need to go silly with it, throw 10 solid punches or at least when your hands tarts to hurt, and call it quits a while. there's no benefit from pound away for an age , particularly if it wrecks your hands


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## Deleted member 39746 (Jun 22, 2019)

No idea if these will help but its extra knuckle padding:  https://www.amazon.com/WINNING-Winn...ng-20&linkId=31f2e814bd9eeee47467fbe721f3536e
(also read you used cleaning sponges so just assess the different type of material it could pad better, i just know about these and thought i would share) 


I would just cut down a little while waiting for the GP appointment.  Dont really want to aggravate the problem.  

I think warm water can help relieve pain.  But that might be for muscle issues/cramps.  worth a shot anyway.  Or consult a pharmacist for gel/spray if its a issue.


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## Danny T (Jun 22, 2019)

Takes time for your hands to become tempered to the hitting. Start by punching light to moderately during most of your sessions. Got full power for the last round. Massage and rest your hands.  Slowly in time increase your striking power for longer periods. In time you'll get past the pain other than with long hard workouts. Then give your hands a couple days rest to recover.


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## Gweilo (Jun 22, 2019)

With punching,  unless you train by hitting solid objects, your hands will not be strong enough, especially if you form a fist in the traditional way, most people are taught to form a fist by rolling the hand into a tight ball, like rolling a piece of paper, but if you have shallow nerves or not used to punching, it can cause the sensations you are feeling, obviously if it continues seek professional advice,  but if you hold your arm out straight, go from the wrist to the first set of knuckles, and bend this joint 90 degrees,, go to the second set , and bed these 90 degrees, you will form a flat surface, to strike with, bend the thumb under the first finger, keep the wrist straight, there will be a gap in between the fingers and the pad of the palm, when you strike this will act as a shock absorber, and reduce the effects of impact, and less likely to cause impact shock to the nerves, and seriously reduce the risk of hand fractures


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