United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi, I got back from Mayo recently and the doctors said that I will need a tendon transfer in 6 months (because my tendons are still weak now). They are going to use the tendon from my wrist and move it to the fron to allow my fingers to move. They said I will have to reteach my brain.

I am clueless about this procedure so I ask that anyone who knows anything aout tendon transfer, please tell me. What was the surgery like? What functions did you get back? How long did it take for you to see results?

Thanks and have a nice day.

Where are the Brits with this one??????

What? Who me?
The Brits that live in The UK are prolly all in bed asleep as it's around 3am, I'm awake in NZ but have no experience with tendon transfers....but all is not lost here's a good thread about this http://ubpn.org/messageboard/thread ... hread=9836
A couple of people here should be able to help, just click on their name to email them.
Cheers all
Jen NZ

Thanks! The thread was veru good. I did get some answer from it but I tried emailing and couldn't because I think of old email address, maybe?

Yes, I just had a tendon transfer operaton back in December. I had flexion in the wrist and fingers only.

The switched my tendons around so that whenever I think "flex wrist" it actually extends my thumb and wrist. But I'm so used to it now that it just happens almost naturally. My fingers extend normally now.

The only minor drawback was that I can not flex my wrist anymore without having to curl up my fingers. Gravity helps my out there.

By the way, I'm not even sure if we had the same problem with our hands. Are you able to extend at all?

Hi, I'm sorry I haven't posted, been out of town.

Wow, you sound like you are back to normal. That is great! Are you able to type with two hands?

To answer your question, I have no movement in my left hand. Dr. Spinner said I would get flexion when they do the tendon transfer. I don't know a lot yet because I'm still waiting for the tendon to bend my wrist to get stronger.

Thanks your your inputs.

Hi Kim,
The good thing here is that you don't need to rush into having a tendon tranfer, which I'm sure Dr. Spinner probably told you already, so keep doing your research till you feel comfortable with it. He's my Dr. as well along with Dr. Bishop & Shin, if he's still there. Dr. Bishop did a tendon transfer for me last September and it's worked out great. I avulsed C5-7, so still have C8 & T1 although damaged allowed me to have flexion of all fingers, but my middle, ring, & pinky fingers would only open/extend half way. Making it very hard to actually grab anything. Dr. Bishop took one of my middle finger flexor tendons and slipped it from the bottom side of my wrist in between the two fore arm bones to the top side of my wrist and tied it to those three fingers' extensor tendons. Six months later it's all working great. Only down side is I can't flex my wrist when I make a fist and only a little when hand is open, but the trade off was well worth it. I can shake someones hand now, which means quite alot to me. You're with a great team of Drs. When you see them next time, please say hello for me. Best of luck and I hope everything works out well for you. Take care.

Cheers,
Christopher Janney

Thank you Christopher. You made me feel a WHOLE lot better. I'm so glad that things worked out for you. I just hope it will be the same in my case.

One quick question, are you able to type normally?

Thanks!

Hi!
Sorry for being a little late in replying to your question. In 2003 my surgeon operated on my right hand(I'm OBPI). He cut a small piece of tendon from right above my wrist and transferred it to my four fingers. Now I can open my hand almost completely, and for some reason my fingertips can feel texture and stuff. It turned out really well. And I liked my surgeon so well I had him do the carpal tunnel surgery on my non bpi wrist.

hi Erica, thank you for your reply. Your outcome is amazing. I just have two questions for you. Before the surgery, were you able to move your fingers at all? And what happened that caused you to get carpal tunnel syndrome? Thanks.