Flexor Tendon Repair Rehabilitation Protocols: A Systematic Review

Management of Complications of Flexor Tendon Injuries

“…36 They found that, compared with early passive motion protocols, early active motion protocols resulted in higher risk of tendon rupture (4% vs 5%), but better postoperative digit range of motion. Over the time period studied, there was a statistically significant trend toward decreased rupture.…”

“…36 Early identification of interphalangeal joint contracture postoperatively starts treatment consisting of splinting the interphalangeal joints in extension between therapy sessions and at night. Increasing metacarpophalangeal joint flexion, relaxes the intrinsic mechanism, helping to resolve proximal interphalangeal joint contracture.…”

Tendon and Ligament Tissue Engineering, Healing and Regenerative Medicine

“…Flexor tendon injuries are common events as the tendons lie close to the skin and so are usually the result of either lacerations such as those from knives or glass, from crush injuries and occasionally they can rupture from where they are joined to bone during contact sports such as football, rugby and wrestling [2,64,65]. Flexor tendon injuries are challenging problems for orthopedic surgeons due to three main reasons [2,4,64].…”

“…Flexor tendon injuries are challenging problems for orthopedic surgeons due to three main reasons [2,4,64]. Firstly, flexor tendon injury in hand is a clinical problem because it cannot heal without surgical treatment, as the two ends need to be surgically brought together for the healing to occur unlike other tendons including the Achilles tendon where it could be placed into plantar flexion to heal [8][9][10][11]64].…”

“…Secondly postoperative management needs to be carefully planned as mobilization has shown to be essential to prevent adhesions and improve gliding but this can risk rupture. Lastly due to the unique anatomy of the tendons running through flexor tendon sheaths to function, surgeons need to plan preventing increasing the bulkiness of the tendon through its sheath, which is not always possible from scarring as this affects the functional outcome of the tendon [2,[5][6][7]64]. Unfortunately there is no well-known incidence of flexor tendon injury but to the authors experience it seems to be high both in humans and animals.…”