Until recently, attempts to optimize the postoperative regimen following intrasynovial flexor
tendon repair had been essentially empirical, in that both the time and graduation of the
exercise regimen have lacked clear conceptual guidelines. The magnitude of load applied
in previous studies had not been clearly controlled, and similarly, the effects of increased
repair site excursion and gap formation had not been evaluated in clinically relevant models.
Recent experimental in vivo data on the application of force and excursion as independent …