knuckle pain

I've been playing polo for around two months and over time have developed pain and weakness across the knuckles of my mallet hand. It has gradually gotten worse, with the pain still lingering a day or so after I play.

Over xmas I've had the chance to rest it. The rest along with some light movement of the knuckles has helped although the knuckle of my middle finger is still remains sore and csuses pain when I try to move it.

So been trying to think of a few solutions:
Gloves - at the min I'm just using a pair of cycling gloves, if I were to upgrade these to a pair of hockey or la crose gloves I could get a bit of extra padding added support to take the pressure of.
Tape - atm I'm just using hockey tape if I were to use say a foamier cork tape and double wrap it.
Grip - perhaps loosening my grip a little would ease the pressure across the knuckles.

These were just a few of the ideas to come to mind but appreciate and feedback from people who may have encountered similar issues.

I use a layer of hockey tape, then inner tube and gel tennis grip on top.

The pain could also be from the way you hold your mallet, try relaxing your grip especially when going in for a tackle or blocking a shot. A firm hold means that you will get the full force of contact while loosening your hands would let your mallet absorb most of it. Hope it helps.

Make sure you've had a beer before playing.

try to experiment with different grip thickness, because that will def make a difference. Equally your mallet length and weight will make a difference. I have still not found a perfect match, but more polo will eventually build the muscles up. If i have a lay off and then play my hand is always sore, even with a mallet i have used 100s of times before.

My guess is as beagle said your grip is too tight and you just need to relax it. I don't know where you play, but check out the grips of other people, I had a particularly good explanation from one of the polo players that used to play tennis.

Usually people who need softer tape complain of numbness in the hand (particularly thumb) rather than knuckles... And similarly excessive weight on the mallet normally causes wrist pain... But I guess both of these could show as knuckle pain if you had particularly tough palms or a strong wrist.

Without knowing you it's hard to be certain, do you play other racket sports? Have you had any hand/wrist injuries? Have you taken a lot of ecstasy (seriously one of the side effects of too much e is damage to tendons particularly in the hand)?

It could just be that as you are a beginner your muscles in your hand are weak and it's just the ache of going from no finger exercise to loads in a short space of time... Get one of those spring things you squeeze in your hand that might help if it's just finger weakness.

Too much E? That could explain something. My wrists and hand used to get quite bad, my wrists have got better although my hands still hurt occasionally, more so at tournaments where I think I end up squeezing too hard with all the extra nerves and whatnot, although I have injured my hands and wrists in the past. Loosening off the grip seems to help pain and help mallet control all at the same time.