Clinical primary flexor tendon repair and rehabilitation: The Bern Experience

Vögelin, Esther; Traber-Hoffmann, Ghislaine; van der Zypen, Véronique (2012). Clinical primary flexor tendon repair and rehabilitation: The Bern Experience. In: Tang, Jin Bo (ed.) Tendon Surgery of the Hand (pp. 118-126). Philadelphia: Saunders

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In this chapter we present our experience with treatment of zone 2 flexor tendon repair using a six-strand repair technique combined with postoperative place-and-hold exercise. The six-strand Lim/Tsai repair technique combined with place-and-hold exercises demonstrated better digital function compared to a two-strand repair without place-and-hold exercises. Range of motion in the Lim/Tsai repair group appeared to be increased without a higher rate of ruptures but with a shorter rehabilitation period. The fact that the two groups differed in both suture techniques and rehabilitation programs made it impossible to know whether the better results in the group of Lim/Tsai were due to the six-strand repair or the place-and-hold exercises or both. Despite the obvious benefit of early active mobilization, an active motion protocol may not always be possible to apply in a substantial number of patients due to concomitant injuries, the quality of the surgical repair or patient factors (swelling, pain, limited compliance). Since August 2006 a staged rehabilitation program (“stop and go”) was introduced within our unit using early active controlled flexion (green), place-and-hold (yellow), or passive flexion exercises (red) introduced by Kleinert-Duran. Our experience using the six-strand suture repair technique and “stop and go” is outlined.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Orthopaedic, Plastic and Hand Surgery (DOPH) > Clinic of Plastic and Hand Surgery > Hand Surgery 04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Orthopaedic, Plastic and Hand Surgery (DOPH) > Clinic of Plastic and Hand Surgery
UniBE Contributor:	Vögelin, Esther
Subjects:	600 Technology > 610 Medicine & health
ISBN:	978-1-4377-2230-7
Publisher:	Saunders
Language:	English
Submitter:	Jörg Arnoldi
Date Deposited:	11 Sep 2014 14:45
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:37
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/58662