TENDON REPAIR SURGERY
Tendons make movement possible. These soft tissues in your body anchor your muscles to your bones. When your muscles contract, your tendons will pull the bone towards the contracting muscle, creating the movement you desire. If you should damage a tendon, often movement can become impaired or even impossible.
Damage to a tendon which does not get repaired quickly can lead to long-term and often permanent disability. Tendon trauma can occur in many ways, including sports injuries, joint lacerations or rheumatoid arthritis. Tendon tears or separation of the tendon from the bone frequently occur as a result of these causes.
Pain may vary widely with tendon injuries, but the absence of pain does not make the injury any less serious. Also, tendon injuries often do not heal well on their own due to the constant movement of your joints, so surgical repair often becomes necessary to achieve a healthy recovery.
Can Tendon Repair Surgery Help?
Tendon repair surgery can help you if you have recently experienced joint trauma and have either pain, impairment or loss of use of one or more of your joints. Since tendon injuries may heal poorly on their own, the sooner you visit your board-certified surgeon for a consultation and determine if you qualify for a tendon repair surgery, the greater the likelihood that you will benefit from the surgery.
Should You Receive Tendon Repair Surgery?
Any surgery involves risks, including tendon repair surgery. Having surgery, you face the risk of complications from anesthesia, which can include breathing difficulty or skin reactions, as well as risks from infection and bleeding.
Tendon repairs have the additional risks of scar tissue, joint stiffness and possible re-injury. These risks remain small, however, and restoring the healthy use of your joints usually far outweighs the potential risks.
What Happens During Surgery?
Most often, Dr. Williams, your board-certified surgeon, will perform your tendon repair surgery on an outpatient basis. Depending on injury location, you will receive either local, regional or general anesthesia.
After disinfecting the area, Dr. Williams will make a primary incision above the impaired tendon and sew torn pieces together or re-anchor the dislodged portion. In the absence of other repairs, Dr. Williams will close the incision.
Recovery can take up to 12 weeks. During the first portion of your recovery, you will wear a splint to immobilize the joint and prevent disturbing the repairs. After about eight weeks, you may take off the splint and begin physical therapy.
Physical therapy will help reduce stiffness after surgery and rebuild muscular strength and agility lost due to disuse. Dr. Williams will typically prescribe anywhere from six to eight weeks of physical therapy depending on the location of the injury and extent of atrophy.
Most patients will experience a successful recovery from their injury and surgery over time. However, a few individuals may experience excess scar tissue which can limit flexibility. In those cases, you may require extended physical therapy or an additional surgery to maximize function.
Tendon repair surgeries offer many patients a successful pathway to restore impaired or lost function after a joint injury. When a surgery closely follows an injury, patients often enjoy an even higher success rate.
If you have recently had a joint injury, call the offices of Dr. Carl Williams today at (702) 299-6624 for an in-person consultation to see if this procedure can address your specific needs.
Dr. Williams has met his patient’s cosmetic and functional needs for over 30 years, offering compassionate care with a track record of successful surgeries and satisfied patients. Trust Dr. Williams to help you regain your active lifestyle.
