The deformities of the fingers and toes Author:William Anderson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CONTRACTION OF THE FINGERS DUE TO DEVELOPMENTAL IRREGULARITIES IN THE BONY AND LIGAMENTOUS ELEMENTS OF THE ARTICULATIONS. There are certain affections of the ... more »fingers which have hitherto attracted little notice, but are interesting on account of their relationship to deformities of much greater frequency in the lower extremity. These are conditions of abnormal flexion and of lateral deviation of the phalanges at the inter-phalangeal articulations, the first of which corresponds exactly to the well- known deformity of the foot called " hammer toe." " Hammer finger" (Fig. 6) is not a rare complaint, although much less familiar, possibly because much less troublesome, than hammer toe. It may be defined as a permanent flexure of one or more digits, nearly always at the first or second inter-phalangeal joint, and unasso- ciated with inflammatory or degenerative disease in the articular structures, or with any evidence of paralytic or spastic phenomena in the muscles. It is strictly limited in onset to the developmental period, and may manifest itself at any time between birth and adult life, possibly even before birth in some instances. It is more common in girls than in boys. The digit most frequently attacked is the little finger, and the proximalinter-phalangeal joint is more often affected than the distal joint. It is usually symmetrical. The contraction is slow, progressive, and painless, and becomes arrested spontaneously at any degree of flexion, but seldom goes beyond an angle of 90. The joint cannot be extended by any ordinary force except in the earliest stage, and even then Fig. 6. " Hammer Finger." the bent position is immediately resumed after the cessation of the effort. Flexion, on the other hand, is complete and of fair power. No alteration is produced in ...« less