Thumb Injury

[Paullie]

I'm wondering if any other shooters out there have injured the unlar collateral ligament on their right hand. The injury is comonly known as skiers thumb. I ripped this ligament about three years ago and it simply wouldn't heal.
I finally had to have surgery to fix the problem.(Eight weeks in a cast makes a shooter grumpy.)
My doc surmises that it was the camera that put the thumb in a position that it wouldn't heal. In fact he says that it is the unlar collateral ligament which is used when we trigger the camera. Anyhow, has anyone else experienced this injury?

[Tazam77]

I haven't experienced this injury, but I was thinking how many times I use my thumb to hit record. If I'm not shooting on the shoulder (about 75% of the package on sticks) then I am hitting the record button on the front with my index finger.

[Run&Gun]

I've never injured my thumb like that, but in December 2003 I had a tendon partially torn in my index finger on my right hand. Made it hard to zoom... or do anything for that matter. It hurt to the touch for over two months. I still don't have 100% flexibility back almost a year and a half later, and probably never will.

[Chicago Dog]

The closest I've come is tendonitis: an inflammation of the tendon. I get it in my right thumb very rarely. It's not all that painful, just causes stiffness and discomfort whenever you're working with your hands. Eventually, it subsides.

According to an athletic friend of mine, you can't really do anything but let it run its course. The last time I was stricken, it stuck around for about two weeks.

[vdoguy]

I tore my ulnar collateral ligament also, but not while shooting. I took a nasty spill while skiing on an icy slope back in '88 or '89. I also broke my thumb and tore cartilage in three places in my knees. The best part was the x-ray for the torn UCL. They need to hyperdeviate the thumb to see how far it bends away from normal motion. This wouldn't have been too painful if my freakin' thumb weren't broken!

A good exercise to strengthen the hand against injuries like this is gently squeezing a racquet ball. An old one works best since it's softer. Or you can play the piano like I do. It's the absolute best hand and forearm exercise there is!

I feel for you. I had to take three months off shooting for a wrist injury when I fell while playing baseball 6 or 7 years back. It sucked big time. I had to spend my days going over thousands of applications from DirecTV customers who wanted to receive ABC's programming on the dish rather than using an antennae to receive the local signal. That's worse than covering car accidents!

[str8shooter13]

I did it in '88 skiing. After a month or more of constantly re-injuring it carrying a tripod, I finally went to my ortho doc and had him put me in a cast for a few weeks. I made sure to get it off a week before my Cancun vacation, so I could go to the tanning place a few times ahead of time :)

Beyond that, what HAVEN'T I injured in 26 years in this business ? Tendonitis in both elbows (I love Mobic), torn biceps tendon, cranky back muscles -- you know the list -- and still I keep going like the Energizer bunny. Go figure.

[Shutterfinger]

I learned how to shoot on a camera with a broken record button on the hand control.

I use the the front record out of habit. It would suck if I injured my left index finger.

Get better.