Finger Collateral ligament injury rehab and what should I avoid
INJURY: January 2026, chronic overload reasons, I m not a climber but for other previous injuries reasons I used to train a lot straight finger/lumbricals exercises position, so in a session I started to feel that pain on the base of the index in the ulnar side, then the other symptoms, probably aside from pure overload the cause was lot of rotation/torque load.
AREA OF PAIN:
Both hands, index ulnar side, PIP and MCP collateral area
SYMPTOMS (Initial): pain and soreness, weird sensations and fingertip numbness if loaded, I read same experience about this numbness in some old posts, fortunately now it s solved. No laxity with sidebend forces or catching feelings. No swelling visible generally but pip collateral ligament of left hand index seems bigger than the right one. Left mcp moves a bit "rusty", bones grinding....in my opinion it has become too mobile in ulnar side rotations and tight in parallel flexion.
REHAB DONE: grip strenghtening with grip rings tools
gradually increase the volume, then the intensity. Generally every other day, sometimes rest 2 days.
For the 2-3 months of rehab pain has gradually reduced, experienced minor soreness (pip side area) after exercises or the day after, especially when intensity increased, that use to subside in 24-48 h. Numbness gone, other symptoms gone.
In April it seems like the fingers were healed (at least for daily life loads or low weight, still some time for full heal)
But the straight fingers load is still painful. It gives a dull ache on mcp side while doing it...and it s the 2nd time it cause a sort of relapse: pain, ache, big discomfort on mcp side, plus a bit of pain on pip, that require me to scale back with rehab.
I understand that it s the rotation of the index finger that cause this torque force that probably I should avoid.
(The problem is that I need this exercise for strenghten/activate the thumb base muscles, because I ve a thumb pip joints irritation problem, often caused by smartphone usage, that goes away if base of the thumb muscles are strong and active.)
So now I am writing this post asking if I am missing something.
Is it a collateral ligament injury or maybe synovitis capsulitis or inflamation of some collateral structures?
The pain/relapse by torque forces is normal? Is it too early...or should I avoid these positions?
Maybe I could strenghten the straight fingers load movement but with full control on finger rotations, mantaining index parallel and avoid torque at all cost?
Aside from flexion, Should I strengthen the finger adduction and abduction with rubber band too? Because I ve read opposite opinions about that, and, in this case, should I strenghten ulnar deviation or radial deviation, or both?
Finally about strenghten or activate thumb base muscles, which exercises can I do that dont aggravate index?