Tendon transfer surgery is usually performed by transferring functional muscles to nonfunctional or paralyzed muscles in order to improve and restore the function at the recipient area without affecting the donor site.

There are many conditions where tendon transfer surgery is the only option to restore function like prolonged nerve injury, brachial plexus injury, wrist drop, foot drop, damaged tendon due to rheumatoid, cerebral palsy, stroke, spinal cord atrophy, and other congenital condition like a hypoplastic thumb, etc.

Every muscle has two ends, during tendon transfer surgery, one end, called the origin of the muscle, where the muscle is attached to bone and is supplied by blood vessel and nerve left in place while the other ends, called insertion, was detached and resewn to its new location, so when the muscle moves it will produce a different function depending on where it is transferred.

A common example of tendon transfer surgery is a condition called wrist drop-in which paralysis of wrist extensors leads to non-functional hand, a muscle for the outward turning of the forearm is transferred on wrist tendons for its function and this procedure generally restore lost wrist function

Your surgeon will take a complete history and examine you for the availability of transferable tendons. Tendon transfer surgery is generally performed under general anesthesia. There will be multiple cuts that will be stitched after transferring muscle, your surgeon will apply a plaster for a few weeks to months depending on the type of tendon transferred. tendon transfer surgery is followed by therapy to teach you new functions and when your tendon healing completes you will be needing exercises to increase your strength.

It’s important to follow postoperative instructions carefully otherwise there is a chance that your transferred muscle doesn’t work properly.