Paralyzed fingers and the magic of tenodesis

“What’s wrong with my hands?” were the words that my dad first thought to himself as he shook his wrists and watched his fingers wiggle unresponsively as he came to consciousness after his accident. He had no idea that he had broken his neck, and that he would never have control of his fingers again.

In rehabilitation, he learned that he had to learn to use his hands in new way. “Just use tenodesis!”, his therapists assured him. “Teno-what!?” Therapists have a tendency of dropping fancy terms that mask generally simple concepts. Tenodesis became a saving grace for my dad, a simple movement that allows him to do anything from holding a glass to picking up a pen.

Being a C6-C7 quadriplegic, my dad still has use of his wrists, which allows him to use tenodesis. By relaxing his wrist, his fingers naturally extend and open.  The opposite movement of flexing the wrist up makes the fingers close, creating just the right movement to be able to “grasp” objects without consciously moving your fingers. Familiarity with tenodesis for quadriplegics with wrist movement can literally be the difference between independence and needing an aide. Check out this video on SPINALpedia of Beth, another high-level quadriplegic, who uses tenodesis to pick up a cup: http://www.spinalpedia.com/videodetails.php?vid=102117
Have you ever used tenodesis or know someone who does? Make a video and share it on SPINALpedia.com!