James C. Cassandra, DO
Orthopedic Hand & Elbow Surgeon
Each of your hands has multiple flexor tendons and extensor tendons that connect muscles to bones and allow you to bend and straighten your fingers and thumb.
While these fibrous bands of connective tissue are durable, repetitive wear-and-tear can cause tendon damage that severely restricts your ability to use your hands to complete everyday tasks.
Tendon damage in your hands can cause pain and tenderness and reduce your ability to bend or extend one or more of your fingers.
Some of the common causes of tendon issues in your hand include:
Injuries such as lacerations can damage your hand tendons. Your tendons are close to the surface of your hand, so any deep cut can sever one of these critical connective tissues.
It’s also possible to tear a tendon away from the bone.
A ruptured tendon is a common sports injury, especially when a finger gets caught in a jersey and is pulled, or during activities, such as rock climbing, that require significant hand and arm strength.
Tendonitis is an inflammatory condition that occurs when repetitive use creates micro-tears in the tendon.
Tendonitis symptoms include:
Tenosynovitis is another repetitive use inflammatory condition, but this condition affects the synovial membrane that surrounds a tendon instead of the connective tissue itself.
Symptoms of tenosynovitis can include:
De Quervain’s syndrome is a common type of tenosynovitis that affects the tendons on the thumb side of your hand.
When the synovial tissue becomes inflamed, your tendons cannot glide smoothly through the protective sheaths.
You lose the ability to move your thumb and grasp objects. You may feel a sticking sensation when you try to move your thumb.
Clinically referred to as stenosing tenosynovitis, trigger finger occurs when swelling in the synovial membrane around one of the tendons in a finger traps it in a curled or bent position.
You may feel catching or locking of the finger or thumb when this happens. Although this sensation isn’t always associated with an injury.
Fortunately, the hand and wrist specialists at OrthoNeuro can repair damaged tendons.
Our hand specialists provide thorough exams, including X-rays and MRIs, to locate and diagnose your hand tendon problem.
This information allows your physician to create a customized treatment plan, which may include tendon repair surgery.
A mild tendon injury can sometimes heal on its own with rest, ice, over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medicine, and therapy.
However, if you have persistent hand pain and can’t perform normal hand movements, you should make an appointment with the experts at OrthoNeuro.
The OrthoNeuro team offers various types of tendon surgery to repair the tendons in your hand.
Your tendons can tear in several directions, each requiring a slightly different approach to repair the damaged tendon.
Your hand surgeon will provide either a local or regional anesthetic during your operation.
After making an incision in your hand, they will use specialized surgical tools to stitch the ends of the torn tendon together carefully or reattach the tendons to the bone.
Your orthopedic surgeon will close the incision with stitches and apply a rigid plaster splint to protect and stabilize your hand while the tendon heals.
You may need two months or more to recover from tendon injuries, regain full movement, and return to your regular activities.
Follow your surgeon’s advice and attend physical occupational therapy hand therapy. Perform hand exercises regularly and stretch as directed.
Patients who are experiencing the symptoms of tendon damage should not delay a diagnosis. The decision of what treatments are best for you will be determined by what you and your OrthoNeuro Specialist feel are best.
If you are experiencing symptoms of tendon damage, schedule an appointment with one of our Board Certified Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Specialists at one of our 7 convenient locations throughout Greater Columbus.
Best of all, most patients can be seen within 24 hours of making an appointment.
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