Visit a doctor if your finger is still swollen, bruised, or painful after 48 hours. If pain from a sprained finger is severe or lasts for more than a couple of days, schedule an appointment with your general practitioner.[11] They’ll be able to assess the damage to your finger and determine whether or not the ligaments are sprained.
Go to a local Urgent Care center or emergency room if you’re unable to bend your finger after the incident, the pain from the injury prevents you from going about your daily routine, the swelling, redness, or pain gets worse, or you have signs of an infection (e.g., high temperature, redness, streaks on the finger).
Describe your finger injury to the doctor. Tell the doctor when and where the finger was injured. Also describe how you sustained the injury (e.g., if you caught the ball wrong in a game of baseball). Mention what angle your finger was at when it was injured and what direction the injury came from. Tell the doctor how severe the pain is, and whether it’s become more or less painful with time.
During your visit, your doctor will do a physical exam to check for swelling and see where the pain is coming from. This helps them determine the severity of the sprain and how stable the injured joint is.
Also make an appointment if you have a mallet finger, since the condition needs to be treated by a medical professional.
Request an imaging scan if your doctor can’t visually confirm a sprain. The doctor will most likely perform an X-ray or an MRI scan. Both of these scans allow the doctor to get a clear image of the bones and ligaments in your finger. An MRI in particular will give the doctor a clear look at the ligaments inside your injured finger. After viewing the scan results, the doctor will be able to diagnose whether or not your finger is sprained.
Neither the X-ray procedure nor the MRI procedure should cause any pain or discomfort.