Crush Injury of the Hand, No Fracture

You have a crush injury of your hand. This causes local pain, swelling, and sometimes bruising. You do not have any broken bones. This injury may take from a few days to a few weeks to heal.

If a fingernail has been severely injured, it may fall off in 1 to 2 weeks. A new one will usually start to grow back within a month.

Home care

Follow these guidelines when caring for yourself at home:

• You may be given a splint to prevent movement of the injured hand.
• Keep your hand elevated to reduce pain and swelling. When sitting or lying down keep your arm raised above the level of your heart, if possible. You can do this by placing your arm on a pillow that rests on your chest or on a pillow at your side. This is most important during the first 2 days (48 hours) after the injury.
• Put an ice pack on the injured area. Do this for 20 minutes every 1 to 2 hours the first day for pain relief. You can make an ice pack by wrapping a plastic bag of ice cubes in a thin towel. As the ice melts, be careful that the splint does not get wet. Continue to use the ice pack 3 to 4 times a day until the pain and swelling go away.
• You may use over-the-counter pain medicine such as Tylenol (acetaminophen) or Motrin (ibuprofen) to control pain, unless another pain medicine was prescribed. If you have chronic liver or kidney disease, talk with your healthcare provider before using these medicines. Also talk with your provider if you have had a stomach ulcer or gastrointestinal bleeding.
• If you have a splint, keep it dry at all times. Bathe with your splint well out of the water. Protect it with a large plastic bag, rubber-banded at the top end. If a splint gets wet, you can dry it with a hair dryer on the cool setting.
• Do not stick a needle into the wound to drain it.
• Bruised skin may change colors over time. It may change from reddish to bluish to yellowish before the skin goes back to normal coloring.

Follow-up care

Follow up with your healthcare provider, or as advised, if you do not start to get better within the next 3 days.

If X-rays were taken, you will be told of any new findings that may affect your care.