The last couple of days I lit my forge and spent the day hammering, I noticed that for a day or two afterward I can't fully bend the middle finger on my hammer hand. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what causes this condition and are there steps I can take to help alleviate the symptoms and prevent this from happening in the future?

mate i had this when i spent a month straight pulling 2" nails out of hardwood t and g boards, only thing for it is keep going, i did have to use the hammer with middle finger half extended but it finished up coming good

Look up trigger finger

Look up carpal tunnel. I've had surgery on both hands, both began with middle finger problems, an apparently classic sign.

Don't know specifically this injury, and not about to speculate, but general treatment for most stress injuries involves rest, ice, and anti-inflammatories, if only ibuprofen.

there is alot of info on hammer control here & U tube have you look into this ? to us a hammer one must know how to throw it !!

its not just hitting something ! Google Mark Aspery & others here here also 

I LOVE it/not ! when a journeyman carpenter tells me how to use a hammer LOL  & did it all his life & has NO Idea :mellow: & can't be retrain, until I stated smithing a hammer was a hammer you hit things with it as a welder I use Lg hammers I HAD NO IDEA LOL !

I now do & try to control right & Left  :) 

I have developed trigger finger in both hands (middle finger) but sadly i haven't been at the forge in months. :(

 

It's usually worse in the morning but loosens up as the day goes by.

Note that for a lot of RSI type of problems "working your way through it" means possibly crippling yourself and requiring expensive surgery and long down times

I'm with Thomas, working through an injury can indeed mean crippling yourself. An American institution to "working through the pain" is in the news here for that very reason. How many billions are the football leagues having to pay for permanent crippling injuries to players? Sure the ones that really catch my eye are the TBI sufferers, I have a personal interest in TBI but there are knees, wrists to darned near every joint that have permanent disabling injuries from the culture of playing through the pain.

 

It is a culture or tradition, medically it's a B-A-D THING TO DO. We're not talking about keeping an injured joint flexible by moving it we're talking about repeating the injurious activity. How on earth is that a good idea?

 

In the world of folk who'd like to use their joints their whole life the basic first aid is: STOP doing that. Ice the joint, 20 minutes at a time max, Take an NSAID Ibuprofin is good a is aspirin do NOT over do them. Gently flex the joint after a while and loosen it up but be gentle about it. If it's still stuck the next day a doctor visit may not be a bad idea.

 

Of course that's just my opinion. Anyone reading this can do what they want to their bodies, I did I have the scars, dents and odd moving joints to prove it.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

I had wrist and elbow pain that radiated to my fingertips.  The doc recommended kinesio tape once I'd iced and rested the areas back to normal.

 

Thomas and Frosty are right.  Get it figured out, the fix is likely easier now than later. 

I'll vote for "Trigger Finger" I had it in a thumb a few years back.  It is caused by the sheath that protects the tendon where it passes over the knuckle in front swelling up and not letting the tendon slide back and forth. It's a repetitive motion injury.  Best thing for it is a short operation where the surgeon slits the sheath open so it lets the tendon move.  I had it and I was back working in about 3 weeks.  I know it isn't manly but might want to consider wearing a padded glove for a while.  Always worse in the morning and if you listen close you can hear it click when it lets loose each time hence the term "Trigger".  I've had friends wait 6-8 months fooling with it and getting it cut in the end.  I suppose a lot of resting it might help? I didn't have the option of that much time.   It is down right painful. 

Listen to real time reason  Be careful of your joints. I am 70 yrs old and suffer worn out Knees. The person I worked for didn't care about worn joints.Only money. We tried to get better conditions for years to no avail. When a company goes under there is no recourse. if you do damage to yourself with your hobbby who is left to blame or pay for it?

As someone who works in healthcare, I'd second all the advice of not working through the injury. It is too easy to do something wrong and screw your body up worse. To re-use a saying my mentor had "You don't get paid enough to die on the job."

 

Get to an orthopedic guy and have him take a look at it if you can. It may be something simple that NSAIDS or corticosteroids could fix, or there could be exercises that help with the problem. If you try to work through it you are begging for surgery later on.

Life is too long to go through it without all your parts... working.

 

I am no doctor but perhaps think of a much lighter grip.  Grip is probably a bad word even...

 

You may be clenching too hard.   observe yourself as you hammer...   are you clenching?  Gritting your teeth is a dead giveaway.   Observe yourself for other tells.  Tools are meant to minimize the energy required by your body to get work done.   My 2 cents