Flexor tendon repair using the two-strand side-locking loop technique to tolerate aggressive active mobilization immediately after surgery

BackgroundEarly mobilization after tendon repair decreases adhesion formation and improves repair-site strength. We investigated whether the two-strand side-locking loop technique would tolerate aggressive active mobilization immediately after surgery.MethodsTwelve flexor digitorum profundus tendons of the porcine forelimbs were sutured by the two-strand side-locking loop technique with a cross-stitch epitendinous repair (Group A), and by the 8-strand repair method with a simple running suture (Group B). Gaps and residual tensile strength after cyclic loadings of 3–50 N (for 10,000 rounds) were measured.FindingsGaps after cyclic loading in Group A were 0.5 ± 0.3 and 1.2 ± 0.8 mm while those in Group B were 3.5 ± 0.8 and 5.2 ± 1.2 mm at 3 and 50 N, respectively. In addition, the respective residual tensile strength of Groups A and B were 207.1 ± 15.2 and 84.2 ± 18.3 N.InterpretationA combination of the two-strand side-locking loop technique with cross-stitch epitendinous repair served as the optimum suture method in establishing safe and early active mobilization without the aid of a specialized rehabilitation staff.