Vague pain in hand after training mistake

[Tityroi]

Hello, I would greatly appreciate your input on this, and whether I should be worried or not.

Basically I've been teaching my brother how to box, with the basic strikes, jab, uppercut and hook. Two weeks ago he wanted to repeat the exercise, and so I let him punch the palm of my hands without any of us wearing any gloves. Big mistake.

From what I understand, he didn't punch very hard, and I didn't feel much right away, but now, two weeks later, I still have this vague pain in my left hand. It is kind of all over the place, sometimes in my palm, the wrist, the fingers and the thumb, and it gets worse if I press my hand down on a surface. I also feel it if I'm doing benchpress, but only as a vague pain.

How worried should I be? I have full mobility in my hand, and can flex both the wrist and fingers in all directions. But is it possible that by the light sparring in my unprotected hands, he did break any bones? Or is it just soft tissue damage?

Yeah, I know, I could talk to a doctor, but I don't have much money right now, and since there isn't any visible signs of damage, the alternative would be taking an x-ray. So people who have experience with boxing and similar injuries, how worried should I be?

[Redd Foxx]

Hello, I would greatly appreciate your input on this, and whether I should be worried or not.

Basically I've been teaching my brother how to box, with the basic strikes, jab, uppercut and hook. Two weeks ago he wanted to repeat the exercise, and so I let him punch the palm of my hands without any of us wearing any gloves. Big mistake.

From what I understand, he didn't punch very hard, and I didn't feel much right away, but now, two weeks later, I still have this vague pain in my left hand. It is kind of all over the place, sometimes in my palm, the wrist, the fingers and the thumb, and it gets worse if I press my hand down on a surface. I also feel it if I'm doing benchpress, but only as a vague pain.

How worried should I be? I have full mobility in my hand, and can flex both the wrist and fingers in all directions. But is it possible that by the light sparring in my unprotected hands, he did break any bones? Or is it just soft tissue damage?

Yeah, I know, I could talk to a doctor, but I don't have much money right now, and since there isn't any visible signs of damage, the alternative would be taking an x-ray. So people who have experience with boxing and similar injuries, how worried should I be?

The ligaments in the hand are complex in that they take stress in a lot of different directions. A break is unlikely as you'd probably have swelling and such. You may have aggravated a tendon/joint/etc. Could even be a "bone bruise". I've found the only thing that truly fixes any of that is rest. Don't do anything that irritates it (you can't "work through" ligament pain, it only gets worse). It can take several weeks.

Advil, icing for 10 min at a time, epsom soaks, etc might help. But, they shouldn't be expected to "fix" anything. They're things you in the event that they might possibly help a little.


If something "seems wrong", go see a doc. I've gotten every type of inflammation and irritation one can get so I'm just telling you what I would assume, were it my hand. Don't rule out any possibility though.