[RobinB]

About 6 weeks ago I ruptured the fdp tendon - middle finger, right hand. The tendon snapped within the finger (A2 area I believe is the technical phrase) rather than lower down in the palm or wrist. I had the tendon surgically repaired within two days of the injury by the good folks at the Northern general hospital in Sheffield.

The physios I have been seeing are fairly confident the tendon repair has taken but there is very little visible movement in the  last joint of my finger. This is probably due to the build up of scar tissue within the finger. The physios are hopeful this will improve with more physio over the next few months however they have suggested another operation may be needed to free up some of the scar tissue. They currently have me doing lots of finger massage and passive movement of the finger

Since this appears to be a fairly unusual injury outside of climbing, I was wondering if anybody else has had any similar experience and especially any advice re how to break down the scar tissue

[fatdoc]

Indeed very rare... The NGH team have a good rep... Trust them.

Buy your own ultrasound machine,

Read Dave Mcs blog, contact him.. His ice treatment has a good evidence base

Take up another sport that stresses the area, but not loads it as much... HardXC / AM MTB.. As an example

[RobinB]

Thanks for the advice fatdoc. The people at the Northern general have been pretty good - however i wanted to check if there were any specific climbing angles

Is doing more MTB not just an opportunity for me to snap a wider variety of body parts?

[fatdoc]

Yes, and no.. You will get less pissed at doing nothing.. And it will stretch the offending digit with little load. Thus Recommended

[Reprobate_Rob]

I ruptured my central slip extensor a few years back and had a similar issue with lack of flexion post-op, due to scar tissue build up.
The physios created a gadget for me out of a wrist splint with finger-glove inside and a piece of velcro attached to the top of the finger and opposing strip along the inside of the wrist splint. I had to pull the velcro down and attach it to the wrist to force flexion, repeatedly pulling it a little further every few minutes. Doing this for about 20-30 mins, 3/4 times a day worked a treat and I now have only about 5 degrees less flexion than before the injury.
Physios i've seen since have been surprised and impressed by the amount of flexion I regained after such an op, so might be worth mentioning to yours.
That was also complimented by a fortnightly ultrasound session and massage/mauling by the physios themselves. The surgeon had also suggested that if it wasn't making progress he would knock me out again and forcibly break it up himself!