Tendon transfer surgery is usually performed by transferring functional muscles to nonfunctional or paralysed muscle in order to improve and restore the function at recipient area without affecting 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 hypoplastic thumb etc. Every muscle has two ends, during tendon transfer surgery, one end, called origin of muscle,where muscle is attached to bone and is supplied by blood vessel and nerve left in place while other end, 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. 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 forearm is transferred on wrist tendons for its function and this procedure generally restore lost wrist function. Your surgeon will take 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 which will be stitched after transferring muscle, your surgeon will apply a plaster for few weeks to months depending on type of tendon transferred . tendon transfer surgery is followed by therapy to teach you new function 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 don’t work properly.