00:00This is the Injury Report, presented by NYU Langone Health.
00:05How effective will Nick's big man, Mitchell Robinson, be in the NBA Finals against the alien, Victor Wimbenyama?
00:12Mitch is dealing with a broken pinky finger on his right shooting hand, as everyone knows, and that required surgery.
00:19So in today's Injury Report, we're talking with Dr. Daniel J. Kaplan, sports orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone,
00:27to talk Mitch versus his pinky versus Wimbeny.
00:31Doc, appreciate you hopping on.
00:33Let's get straight into this, because I need to know what's going on with this guy's broken right pinky finger,
00:39as we regular folks call it.
00:42A fracture of his fifth metacarpal is what sophisticated people like you call it.
00:48He got the surgery, he's been limited in practice, and he plans to wear a protective brace to play in
00:54game one.
00:55One, how does something like this happen?
00:58And two, why did he need surgery for it?
01:02Great questions.
01:03So first, just to go over it, you may be the only person in my entire life that's ever called
01:08me sophisticated,
01:09so I appreciate it.
01:10I'm going to put that on my wall.
01:11That's a win.
01:13Number two, just for everyone to understand, there's a lot of bones in the hand.
01:18So when people talk about their pinky, usually they're talking about the finger.
01:22The metacarpal is the big knuckle that helps connect the finger to the rest of the hand.
01:27So when we're talking about a fractured metacarpal, we're talking about that big bump and the connection between that bump
01:32and the lower part of the hand in here.
01:35In terms of how you break it, it's a little bit of a mystery for him because, as Coach Brown
01:41said,
01:41it wasn't in a game or in practice.
01:43Typically, that injury is referred to colloquially as something called a boxer's fracture
01:47because you get that injury from striking something and hitting this area.
01:52Is that what happened?
01:53I don't know.
01:54That's usually, in general, the most common way for that to happen,
01:57but it's hard for me to say for sure without more information.
02:00Million-dollar question here, Doc, if you have a patient coming to your office
02:03that's not playing in the NBA Finals on Wednesday, but they still have to show up to work,
02:09how would you treat them for a fracture on his or her fifth metacarpal?
02:14So for most people, this bone has a huge tolerance for positioning.
02:19So outside of certain ranges where the bone should be straight, we use certain numbers,
02:24but something as high as like 60 degrees bent can be treated successfully without surgery.
02:30You might just have a funny-looking knuckle.
02:31So most people can be treated without it.
02:34If you're a high-level athlete the way Mitch is and you come into our office,
02:37then you're going to get surgery too.
02:39All right, Doc.
02:41All right, Doc.
02:41Appreciate you coming on with us.
02:44Nick's in?
02:46Six.
02:46Okay.
02:47Oh, six.
02:47All right.
02:48I'll take it.
02:48The sixth metacarpal.
02:50Appreciate that, Doc.
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