Permitted Movement & Comfort
A controlled movement plan may help tendon glide while protecting the repair. Whether motion is passive, assisted, or active, and how the wrist and finger are positioned, must follow the exact postoperative instructions.
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Post-Surgical Recovery Guide
Flexor or Extensor Tendon Repair Recovery
Repair addresses a tendon that bends or straightens a finger. The permitted movement pattern and orthosis schedule are central to protecting the repair.
Understand Your Operation
What Is Flexor or Extensor Tendon Repair?
Flexor tendons bend the finger and extensor tendons straighten it. The location of a repair along the finger changes the rehabilitation protocol. Flexor and extensor repairs should not be treated as interchangeable injuries.
At Greenbelt Physical Therapy & Sports Medicine, we review the procedure, your current symptoms, and the activities you want to regain. Your evaluation is matched to the surgeon’s instructions and the movements you are currently allowed to perform.
Bring the operative details or discharge summary if available. An additional repair can change your precautions even if the main operation has the same name as another patient’s procedure.
Treatment With a Purpose
How Physical Therapy May Help After Flexor or Extensor Tendon Repair
Strength, Control & Useful Function
Resistance is added only when the tendon can tolerate it. Early work is not a test of grip strength; later care connects permitted motion to grasp, release, and dexterity as allowed.
Care Selected for This Stage
Your therapist chooses exercises and functional activities according to your examination and surgical restrictions. Hands-on treatment or symptom-management tools may be considered when appropriate, with attention to healing skin, sensation, and repaired structures. Treatment is adjusted when your medical instructions change.
Understand Our Treatment Approaches ↗A Home Plan You Understand
We explain the purpose of each prescribed activity, the permitted way to perform it, and the response to report. Your home plan should complement the surgical protocol. Do not add resistance, stretch farther, or replace prescribed protection because an online exercise looks similar.
Recovery in Real Life
Work Toward Your Everyday Goals
Buttoning clothes, handling utensils, and using work tools involve different tendon demands. Your therapist or specialist hand therapist grades these tasks rather than encouraging unrestricted hand use.
Tell us which tasks are essential at home and at work, including the frequency, duration, and assistance available. We can practice an appropriate version of a task and progress it as your function and medical instructions allow.
For a work-related operation, bring your current work-status note and authorization information. Rehabilitation can document functional progress, but it does not by itself establish claim acceptance or unrestricted work clearance.
Protect What Is Healing
Important Recovery Precautions
Procedure-Specific Protection
Follow the prescribed orthosis schedule and do not add gripping or stretching independently. A sudden change in ability to bend or straighten the finger needs prompt advice from the surgical team.
Some hand and wrist operations need a specialist hand therapist, custom orthosis, or a closely supervised tendon or nerve protocol. Confirm the required services with your referring team and our office; this guide does not imply that every specialist service is available at our clinic.
When to Contact Your Medical Team
Follow your discharge instructions for postoperative concerns. Increasing wound redness, drainage, fever, unexpected swelling, or new or worsening weakness or numbness should be discussed promptly with the surgical team. These concerns should not be managed by simply pushing through exercise.
Chest pain, sudden breathing difficulty, or another medical emergency needs emergency care. After spinal surgery, new loss of bladder or bowel control or saddle numbness requires urgent medical evaluation.
Questions About Your Recovery
Flexor or Extensor Tendon Repair: Rehabilitation FAQs
Can moving too much or too little cause problems?
Both excessive stress and inadequate permitted motion can be concerns. That is why tendon repair rehabilitation uses a carefully prescribed movement and protection plan, often with specialist hand therapy.
When should I arrange my physical therapy evaluation?
Contact our office with your procedure details, referral, and surgeon’s protocol. The appropriate start date and content of care depend on the operation and your medical instructions. Some plans begin with education or protected movement; others require additional healing before outpatient therapy.
How long will recovery take?
There is no single recovery date for everyone having this operation. Healing, additional procedures, current function, other health conditions, and the demands of your goals all matter. Your therapist tracks meaningful changes, while your surgical team determines medical clearance.
Will I receive every treatment listed on the website?
No. Treatment is selected for an identified limitation and the current stage of your surgical recovery. An exercise, hands-on technique, or modality that is useful for another patient may be inappropriate for your repair.
Patient Education Resources
General education complements your own surgeon’s protocol; it does not replace an individual evaluation or medical instructions.
Continue Exploring Your Care
More Finger Surgery Guides
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