Tendon Transfer Surgery
Muscles and their tendons allow you to move your joints. Many of these perform overlapping functions. Therefore, if you injure a tendon connecting one muscle, it can be replaced with another tendon to restore muscle functionality. In a tendon transfer surgery, a non-working muscle and tendon replace a working muscle and tendon.
Causes
Doctors may recommend a tendon transfer in cases where either extensive muscles or tendons have been lost due to the following
- Nerve injury.
- Muscle injury.
- Neuromuscular disorder
- Congenital disability
Procedure
Anaesthesia may be a type of sedation, a process where the person enters a sleep state or is completely unaware. Besides these various effects, it depends on how serious your injury is, and the surgeon will decide what will work best for you.
The surgeon finds the ligament’s origin in question, then makes one or more incisions in the skin. The tendon insertions are detached and reattached into a different location. It can be sewn into another bone or tendon. Sometimes, more than one transfer will need to be done at a time. The skin is closed with stitches.
Recovery
More than likely, after surgery, you will be given a cast or splint to protect your new tendon transfer until it is done healing and reconnecting to the bone. It generally takes a few months for your tendon to heal and reconnect to its new position, and during this time, hand therapy will most likely need to be provided. If there is any deviation from the therapies that the therapy has prescribed, then problems can arise. Thus, an appropriate therapy regimen would follow your surgeon’s instructions exactly and minimise any potential risks.