Pain guide · Wrist and hand pain

Mallet finger: the splint, the 6 to 8 weeks, and getting your fingertip bending again

Mallet finger is a torn tendon, or a small flake of bone pulled off with it, at the end joint of a finger, so the tip droops and won't straighten on its own. It often happens catching a ball, or even tucking in a bed sheet. Get same-day advice from NHS 111: it needs an X-ray and a splint.

The splint holds the fingertip straight day and night for 6 to 8 weeks, and the tip mustn't bend at all in that time, even when you clean it. Most fingers heal well, sometimes with a slight droop. This page explains the splint, what to do if the tip bends, when surgery helps, and the gentle exercises afterwards, with 3D demos.

3-stage exercise plan When to get help 30 sourcesUpdated 21 October 2026

When to get help first

Exercise is for pain that has been checked or is clearly mild and settling.

Get urgent medical help if

Same day (NHS 111): you've injured your finger and can't straighten the tip, or it's painful, tender, swollen or bruised. It may be mallet finger. While you wait, raise the hand, take painkillers and take off any rings.
Go to A&E: blood under the nail, a nail that has come off, or a cut over the end joint. It may be an open injury, which UK hand surgeons treat the same day.
A child with a drooping fingertip and bleeding at the nail fold, blood under the nail, or the nail lifted above the skin fold: go to A&E the same day. It may be an open break through the growth plate (a Seymour fracture), which needs cleaning out and antibiotics.
Call 999 or go to A&E after an injury (don't drive yourself) if the arm, wrist or hand is numb, tingling or has pins and needles; a bone is sticking out or a bad cut is bleeding heavily; or the wrist, thumb or a finger has changed shape, is at an odd angle, or has turned blue, grey, white or cold.
After an operation or a cut: the wound is swollen, red and getting more painful or has pus coming out of it, or you also feel generally unwell or have a high temperature. Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111.
Throbbing pain and swelling in the arm, with red, blue or darker skin and swollen veins: ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111. It could be a blood clot.

See a doctor or physiotherapist if

In the splint: it's loose, too tight, damaged or uncomfortable, or not holding the tip straight; the skin under it is broken, sore, red and shiny, or white when the splint comes off; or pain or swelling is increasing, you have pins and needles, or the finger changes colour. Contact your hand therapist or fracture clinic promptly.
The tip bent or dropped while the splint was off during the full-time weeks: put it straight back on and contact your hand therapist, because the splinting may need to start again.
After the full-time weeks, the tip droops again or won't straighten after your exercises: put the splint back on and contact your therapist.
A droop, a swan-neck shape (the middle joint bending backwards), significant pain or very limited movement that isn't improving: contact your hand therapy team.
A mallet finger that was never treated, even weeks later: get it seen, because splinting can still help.

Understand it

What mallet finger is

A tear of the thin tendon that straightens the end joint of a finger, either through the tendon itself or by pulling off a small flake of bone (a bony mallet, or mallet fracture). The fingertip droops, and you can straighten it only by pushing it up with the other hand. It usually happens when the fingertip is caught end-on, often by a ball, but a minor knock such as tucking in a bed sheet can do it.

It's also called baseball finger or drop finger. The long, ring and little fingers of the dominant hand are most often affected.

Sources 1, 2, 3

How it's recognised, and what the X-ray shows

Pain, swelling and a fingertip you can't straighten. An X-ray shows whether a flake of bone has come off and whether the joint has slipped out of line. A flake smaller than a third of the joint surface changes nothing: it's splinted like a tendon tear. A larger one is still splinted if the joint stays lined up, with an X-ray in the splint to check; a joint that has slipped means discussing an operation. Blood under the nail, a nail that has come off or a cut over the joint point to an open injury, which needs the same-day route.

Sources 4, 5, 2

The treatment: a splint, day and night

A splint holds the end joint straight, day and night, while the middle joint stays free to bend: 6 weeks for a bony mallet and 8 weeks for a tendon tear in the UK standard, fitted by a hand therapist where possible, with written information. Then the splint is worn at night and for risky activities for a further period. An operation, usually a wire across the joint, is for an open injury, a joint that has slipped (after discussing the options), or a child's growth plate break.

Left untreated, the tip usually stays bent, and some fingers develop a swan-neck shape, with the middle joint bending backwards, and arthritis of the end joint.

Sources 5, 4, 1, 6, 2, 7

What to expect

Most splinted mallet fingers heal with good function, though a slight droop is common and it can take several months to get full use back. Redness, swelling and tenderness over the joint are common for 3 to 4 months, up to 6 in one NHS leaflet, and bony mallets can leave a small bump and a slight loss of bending, rarely with pain.

In a trial of 51 people, the average remaining droop was 14°, and a third had 20° or more; in another of 70, it averaged under 15°, with very little pain at 6 months. The tip often droops a little more in the weeks after the splint comes off, and partly recovers with exercise. Occasionally the tendon doesn't heal: another spell of splinting is the first step, and surgical repair gives inconsistent results.

Sources 1, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

What helps, and how strong the evidence is

A splint works; the type matters less than wearing it properlyEmerging evidence

A Cochrane review found 4 trials (278 people), all with flaws, and no splint type clearly better; it stressed robust splints and sticking to the instructions. Since then, 3 trials have found no difference in the final droop between padded aluminium, stack and custom-made plastic splints, or between a ready-made splint and a finger cast. In one of them, treatment failed in 23.8% of people with stack or aluminium splints and none with custom-made ones, and people who wore their splint as told had less droop.

A review recommends 6 to 8 weeks of continuous splinting, longer if a droop persists; swelling, older age and not wearing the splint as advised made results worse.

Sources 3, 11, 13, 10, 14

Surgery isn't better for mostEmerging evidence

Across 44 studies, the average remaining droop was 5.7° after surgery and 7.6° after splinting, with similar complication rates (14.5% against 12.8%). A meta-analysis of 13 studies (3 of them trials) found no high-quality evidence that surgery is better, for bony or tendon injuries. In a trial of 48 tendon injuries, a splint and a wire across the joint gave the same result at 16 weeks.

For a bony mallet with a large fragment but the joint still lined up, splinting matched pinning in a trial of 32 people, with better bending afterwards, but 3 splinted joints later slipped out of line, which is why UK standards ask for an X-ray in the splint.

Sources 15, 16, 12, 17, 5

Night splinting afterwards: usual practice, little testedMixed evidence

After the full-time weeks, UK hand surgeons advise wearing the splint for protection during risky activities for a further 2 weeks, and NHS leaflets use it at night and at risky times for 1 to 4 weeks, sometimes longer, depending on the hospital. If the droop comes back, the UK standard restarts full-time splinting in 2-week blocks.

One small trial (51 people) found an extra month of night splinting added nothing to the final droop, function or satisfaction; your clinic may still advise it.

Sources 5, 1, 6, 18, 19, 20, 9

Late is still worth treatingEmerging evidence

In 10 fingers first treated 4 to 18 weeks after the injury, 8 weeks of splinting plus 2 at night gave 9 good or excellent results; 2 droops came back and recovered with 8 more weeks. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) says most doctors recommend treatment within a week of the injury, but that some fingers treated as much as a month late still healed completely. It's a small case series, but it supports getting a late mallet finger seen.

Sources 21, 2

Children: a drooping fingertip can be an open growth plate breakStrong evidence

In a child, a drooping fingertip can be a break through the growth plate of the end bone. When the nail fold bleeds, there's blood under the nail or the nail sits above the skin fold, UK hand surgeons treat it as an open fracture (a Seymour fracture): it needs cleaning out, antibiotics and accurate setting, because a missed one can lead to bone infection, a deformed nail and growth problems. In 28 children treated within 24 hours, with antibiotics, 1 developed a bone infection.

Sources 5, 22, 23

Gentle exercise after the splintEmerging evidence

In one trial, the tip drooped a little more just after the splint or wire came off and partly recovered with steady exercise; in another, the droop increased after splinting stopped and had improved by 24 weeks. NHS programmes bring bending back in small steps, for example 10°, then 20°, then 30° over successive weeks with the splint on in between, or bends of 20° to 30° with the middle joint held straight. No trial has compared these programmes, so follow your therapist's.

Sources 12, 11, 20, 6, 24, 25

How much pain is OK while you exercise?

In the splint, the rule is straight, not painEmerging evidence

In the full-time splint, pain isn't the guide: the only rule is that the end joint stays straight, all day and all night. Some soreness, redness and swelling over the joint is common for months.

When bending starts, make small, gentle bends only, as far as your therapist's stage allows (for example 10°, then 20°, then 30°). One NHS programme says it isn't unusual for the tendon to tire or ache, and after a rest it should work again; but if the tip won't straighten after an exercise, stop, put the splint back on and contact the hand therapy team. Don't force it, and avoid power grip and heavy lifting for about 6 weeks after the splint comes off. This combination is our summary of the leaflets.

Sources 4, 5, 1, 8, 20, 6, 25

The exercise plan: 3 stages

Start at the first stage. Each move opens a full guide with a 3D demo.

Stage 1

The splint, day and night

From the day the splint is fitted, for as long as your team says: usually 6 weeks for a bony mallet and 8 for a tendon tear. The end joint must stay straight all the time, even when you clean the finger (written steps below), and the splint must stay dry. As your team allows, use the hand for light tasks, but no heavy lifting, power grip, or sport or exercise involving your hands, and keep the middle joint and the other fingers moving.

Tendon glides (hand tendon gliding exercises) demonstrated on the 3D figure

3D demoTendon glides (hand tendon gliding exercises)Beginner · No equipment

Straight fist and tabletop only: bend and straighten the free joints 10 times every 2 hours · With the splint on, so the end joint stays straight; leave out the hook and full fist. An NHS leaflet's dose; another uses 5 times with 5 s holds every 1 to 2 hours

Harder: Ball squeeze

Wrist & forearm flow demonstrated on the 3D figure

3D demoWrist & forearm flowBeginner · No equipment

10 slow repetitions, 2 to 3 times a day · NHS leaflets say keep the other joints moving. Editorial dose

Harder: Wrist flexor stretch

Breath reach demonstrated on the 3D figure

3D demoBreath reachBeginner · No equipment

5 slow breaths, several times a day while the finger is swollen · Lifting the hand above your heart helps the swelling

Move on when: Your hand therapist or fracture clinic checks the finger at 6 to 8 weeks and the tip holds straight on its own.

Follow along: a timer, a cue and the next move, one step at a time.

Stage 2

Weaning: the end joint starts to bend

As your team allows, and only as your therapist says. The splint goes on at night and for risky activities, such as crowds or sport, for a further 1 to 4 weeks depending on your hospital. Bend the end joint only a little at first, and only as far as your therapist sets: one NHS programme uses guide splints at 10°, then 20°, then 30° in successive weeks, 5 times with 5 s holds every 2 hours, with the splint on in between; another bends 20° to 30°, 20 times each hour, with the middle joint held straight. Written steps are below. If the tip won't straighten after an exercise, stop, put the splint back on and contact your therapist.

3D demoTendon glides (hand tendon gliding exercises)Beginner · No equipment

Straight fist and tabletop, 5 times with 5 s holds, every 1 to 2 hours · A gentle full fist only when your therapist allows; one NHS leaflet adds it at 6 to 8 weeks. An NHS leaflet's dose

Harder: Ball squeeze

3D demoWrist & forearm flowBeginner · No equipment

10 slow repetitions · Editorial dose

Harder: Wrist flexor stretch

Wrist circles demonstrated on the 3D figure

3D demoWrist circlesBeginner · No equipment

10 slow circles each way · Fingers relaxed. Editorial dose

Harder: Wrist flexor stretch

Move on when: The tip stays straight after your exercises and your therapist says you can leave the splint off, often 2 to 4 weeks after the full-time period, longer in some programmes.

Follow along: a timer, a cue and the next move, one step at a time.

Stage 3

Out of the splint: full movement, then grip

As your team allows. The full set of tendon glides, and single-joint bends of the middle and end joints (written steps below). Massaging tight skin over the joint for 5 to 10 minutes before exercising can help. Avoid power grip, heavy activities and high-impact sport for about 6 more weeks; one NHS programme allows contact sport 6 to 7 weeks after guided bending starts. A small droop or bump may remain, and usually doesn't affect how the finger works.

3D demoTendon glides (hand tendon gliding exercises)Beginner · No equipment

4 to 6 of each position, 5 s holds, up to 4 times a day · The full sequence now. The move's NHS hand-therapy dose

Harder: Ball squeeze

Ball squeeze demonstrated on the 3D figure

3D demoBall squeezeBeginner · Other / check instructions

2 sets of 10, 5 s holds, with a soft ball · Only once your therapist allows grip. Editorial dose

Harder: Band finger extension

Band finger extension demonstrated on the 3D figure

3D demoBand finger extensionBeginner · A band

2 sets of 10 with a light band · Editorial dose

Easier: Ball squeeze · Harder: Plate pinch

Move on when: The finger bends and grips normally. The grip strength workout takes it from here.

Follow along: a timer, a cue and the next move, one step at a time.

What to change for now

Cleaning the finger without letting the tip bend (written steps)

Do this every day, and don't take the splint off for a bath or shower: cover it instead.

1. Rest the finger flat on a table. It's easier if someone helps.
2. Cut the tape and slide the splint off, keeping the fingertip flat on the table.
3. Wash the finger and the splint with soap and water, or wipe the finger, and check the skin for sore or red areas.
4. Dry the finger and the splint well.
5. Slide the splint back on, keeping the finger straight, and put on new tape. Only the end joint is held; the middle joint should be free to bend.

Sources 4, 25, 20

Bending the joints again (written steps)

Only once your hand therapist says the full-time splinting is over, and only to the angle they set. Our 3D figure doesn't show these exercises yet. The NHS leaflets give the movements and doses; the steps below spell them out.

1. Sit with your forearm resting on a table, palm up.
2. With the thumb and index finger of your other hand, hold the middle part of the injured finger, so the middle joint stays straight.
3. Gently bend the end joint only as far as your therapist allows (for example 10°, then 20°, then 30° over successive weeks), and hold for 5 s.
4. Straighten the tip fully and hold for 5 s.
5. Repeat 5 times every 1 to 2 hours, or as your programme says, with the splint back on in between.
6. If the tip won't straighten afterwards, stop, put the splint back on and contact your therapist.
7. Later, as your therapist allows: hold the finger just below the middle joint so the big knuckle stays still, and bend and straighten the middle joint the same way, 5 to 10 times, 3 to 4 times a day.

Sources 20, 24, 25, 6

Typical timings, which your team may change

These come from UK hand surgery standards and NHS leaflets, which differ a little. Your own team's plan comes first.

Full-time splint: 6 weeks for a bony mallet and 8 weeks for a tendon tear in the UK standard; some leaflets say up to 8 weeks for all.
If the tip bends during the full-time weeks: NHS leaflets say the splinting may need to start again.
Weaning: the splint at night and for risky activities for 1 to 2 weeks (the British Society for Surgery of the Hand) or 2 to 4 weeks (some NHS leaflets). If the droop comes back, full-time splinting resumes in 2-week blocks.
Bending the end joint: from the end of the full-time period, in small steps, as your therapist says.
Power grip, heavy activities and high-impact sport: about 6 weeks after the splint comes off (one NHS leaflet).
Redness, swelling and tenderness over the joint: common for 3 to 4 months, sometimes up to 6.

Sources 5, 1, 4, 18, 8, 26, 25, 20

Positions to swap, and why

Habit or position	Why it matters	Instead
Taking the splint off to see if it has healed	Bending the tip can re-tear the tendon and mean starting the splinting again.	Leave the checks to your hand therapist.
Letting the tip drop while you clean it	It must stay straight the whole time.	Finger flat on a table, with someone helping (steps above).
Getting the splint wet	Wet skin under the splint gets sore.	Cover it in the shower, and dry it straight away if it gets wet.
Tape across the middle joint	The middle joint should move freely; only the end joint is held.	Keep the tape between the middle joint and the fingertip, and keep the middle joint moving.Try: Tendon glides (hand tendon gliding exercises)
Ball squeezes, power grip or heavy lifting in the splint weeks	They put the healing tendon at risk.	Light tasks now; grip work only once your therapist allows.Try: Tendon glides (hand tendon gliding exercises)
Sport or exercise involving your hands while it heals	The NHS says not to.	Walking and leg training meanwhile.
Stopping early because the tip looks straight	If the splint comes off early, the tip is unlikely to straighten later.	The full 6 to 8 weeks, then weaning as your team advises.
Ignoring sore, red, shiny or broken skin under the splint	The skin can break down, and the splint may need refitting.	Contact your hand therapist for a splint review.
Forcing the tip to bend after the splint	Overstretching the healing tendon can leave a lasting droop.	Small, guided bends, and stop if the tip won't straighten (steps above).

Routines to follow

Grip strength workout: squeezes, curls, carries and hangs

A 20-minute grip session: warm up the wrists and fingers, train the hand and forearm muscles, then carry and hang to load your grip the way everyday life does.

20 minBeginner10 movesOther / check instructions, A band

More moves for this area

Questions people ask

What is mallet finger?

A torn tendon at the end joint of a finger, or a small flake of bone pulled off with it, so the fingertip droops and you can't straighten it. It often happens catching a ball, or even tucking in a bed sheet.

Is mallet finger urgent?

Get help from NHS 111 the same day. Go to A&E if there's blood under the nail, the nail has come off, or there's a cut, because it may be an open injury.

How long do I wear a mallet finger splint?

Day and night for 6 to 8 weeks: 6 for a bony mallet and 8 for a torn tendon in the UK standard, sometimes longer. Then usually at night or for risky activities for a few more weeks.

What happens if my fingertip bends while I'm wearing the splint?

During the full-time weeks, bending the tip can re-tear the tendon, and NHS leaflets say the splinting may need to start again. Put the splint straight back on and contact your hand therapist.

How do I clean my finger without it bending?

Rest the finger flat on a table, slide the splint off, wash and dry the finger and splint, and slide it back on, keeping the tip straight the whole time. It's easier with someone helping, and the splint should be kept dry.

Can I take the splint off at night?

Not during the full-time weeks. Afterwards, many hospitals use a night splint for 1 to 4 weeks; one small trial found an extra month of night splinting added nothing, but your clinic may still advise it.

Will I need surgery for mallet finger?

Rarely. Surgery is considered for an open wound, a joint that has slipped out of line, or a child's growth plate break, and overall the results of surgery and splinting are similar.

What exercises should I do for mallet finger?

In the splint, keep the middle joint and the other fingers moving, about 10 times every 2 hours. After the splint, bend the fingertip a little at a time as your therapist says, for example 10°, then 20°, then 30° over 3 weeks.

Will my finger be completely straight again?

Most heal with good function, but a slight droop is common: in one trial the average was 14°. Redness and tenderness over the joint can last a few months.

I didn't get it treated straight away. Is it too late?

Usually not: in a small study, splinting worked in fingers first treated 4 to 18 weeks after the injury. Get it seen.

My child's fingertip is drooping after an injury. What should I do?

Get it checked the same day. If there's bleeding at the nail fold or under the nail, go to A&E: it may be an open break through the growth plate, which needs antibiotics and cleaning out.

Can I play sport or go to the gym with mallet finger?

The NHS says no sport or exercise involving your hands while it heals. Keep walking and train your legs meanwhile; in one NHS programme, contact sport waits until about 6 to 7 weeks after you start bending the tip again.

Other pain guides

Sources

Exercise education, not a diagnosis or treatment plan. It is written from the guidelines and studies listed above; review by a clinician is pending. If your pain follows an injury, is severe, is getting worse, or comes with any warning sign listed on this page, get it assessed. Health disclaimer.