Thumb Question

[dayou]

I have been thinking of enlisting, but I am not sure if I can. This past summer I broke my thumb. The distal phalanx and the knuckle were smashed, but the rest was fine. I had surgery to repair the knuckle and fix the nail matrix. After surgery I had 2 pins to make sure everything stayed aligned. The pins are out and it is healing, and I am able to bend it a little. I'm not planning on enlisting for another year, so hopefully I will get most of my flexibility back. Would this disqualify me from enlisting?

Thanks,
Dave

[Hunter04]

Hey, I had broke & dislocated one of my fingers at the PIP joint...third base softball accident.... I have a pic of the pins in there on my myspace pics....


Anyway, rule is if you can't make a closed fist you are DQ'd...I ended up having the knuckle replaced so that I could get the closure I needed for a fist (it was either replace of the knuckle or have it am****ted) ... but, I still need a medical waiver, in which I hope it is approved b/c the only reason I had the surgery was for the possibility to enlist.

You will need a waiver, and only the Dr. at MEPS can approve/disapprove that waiver. In the mean time make sure you do all your therapy, all the exercises they tell you to do at home...if you do not you will be hindering the possibility of getting the waiver.

Good Luck to you

[dayou]

Thanks for the reply. I can make a fist now, the only problem is that I can't bent the distal knuckle very much. I wasn't given any therapy, what kind of things have you been doing, I have just been squeezing a therapy ball?
Good Luck and I hope you get a waiver!!

[Hunter04]

As far as some of the things that the therapists and DR had me doing was working with a ball also and I had clay that I had to squeeze with my whole hand and then with just the finger and thumb -- I had several different kinds, some was very easy to squeeze and then some was very tough at first, they would take small ball bearings and smooch that into the clay and make me get them out with my finger and thumb only -- I had to pick up very small objects with just my finger and thumb -- they also made me round stick type thing - about as round as a broom/rake stick made out of the material they used for braces/cast - so that I could learn to wrap my finger around it and roll it in my hand to practice my grip with that finger.


But, if you can make a fist you may not even need a waiver... if/when you start working with a recruiter they will let you know how they will process that part of your folder.


Good luck to you on getting your hand back to strength and a possible future enlistment.