CATAGORIES: I hate it when this happens,OUCH!,REASONS TO BUY DUCT TAPE,SMALL CUBICLE INSURANCE COMPANY,SPORTS — Yarbz @ 8:24 am

I have recently stated playing tennis again after a 17 year hiatus. It feels good and I am hitting pretty well. I used to be a very solid advanced player. The workouts I am getting are significant better than my jogging, gyms visits and anything else I have been doing lately.

Last night however, I was playing a game in the Small Cubicle Insurance Company Softball League and I may have fractured my 4th metacarpal at or near where it meets the carpals… I hope it is not fractured and just jammed or sprained etc.

I had planned on living tennis this summer… Maybe it’ll still be that way, we’ll see.

===== UPDATE =====

I saw the doctor and after examining the hand felt it was necessary to take x-rays. The end result is that there is no fracture. He said that this is an irritation due to an extra bone in my hand that was irritated and inflamed due to the trauma of hitting the ball during the softball game. It’s called “carpal bose” <-- French... The internet has is as 'boss' but that is incorrect. He is the info on it:

The carpal boss: an overview of radiographic evaluation.
W F Conway, J M Destouet, L A Gilula, H W Bellinghausen and P M Weeks
Abstract
The carpal boss, an unmovable bony protuberance, is located on the dorsum of the wrist at the base of the second and third metacarpals adjacent to the capitate and trapezoid bones. This bony prominence may represent degenerative osteophyte formation and/or the presence of an os styloideum, an accessory ossification center that occurs during embryonic development. When this condition is symptomatic, patients present with complaints of pain and limitation of motion of the affected hand. The symptoms of carpal boss may result from an overlying ganglion or bursitis, an exterior tendon slipping over this bony prominence, or from osteoarthritic changes at this site. Radiographically, the view that best profiles the separate os styloideum is a lateral view utilizing 30 degrees of supination and ulnar deviation of the wrist. Once a diagnosis has been made, treatment can range from the use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medication and limited use of the wrist to surgical excision of the anatomic abnormality.

It will take some time to heal and then he suggests not batting as that can bring it on again and if it gets bad enough it will require surgery to remove…