Decent Q&A Article with Clay

[pbmax]

Rand, can you translate this to English?

Q: What are these three sets of stitches up your forearm?

A: It's called a tendon transfer. I broke it (the first time), and they did a closed-pin reduction. (The thumb) was dislocated, so they put it back in there. The bones line up, but it was a real small piece of the bone. So, everything was fine. I was coming out, I was working hard, and I was in a cast. And unfortunately, on a sack of (Ben) Roethlisberger (on Dec. 22), the tip of my thumb (hit) my teammate's helmet. All that pressure went down the cast, broke it again. So then, to make it tighter, we took part of the tendon, turned it around, drilled some holes and they almost tied a knot through. It's stronger than (the left one). Now it's super tight.

[mraynrand]

With Matthews, it sounds like they used a tendon that attaches near the thumb, and has another attachment up the arm. Disconnect up the arm, turn it around and anchor it on the broken thumb to generate strength (this seems extreme, weird and unlikely). More likely, they moved a tendon from the neighboring finger (which has two) and anchored that. The hole they drill is probably to allow the thing to get to the other side to anchor so it's stronger (they do this in ACL surgery) - or to get the proper movement of the thumb when the muscle attached to the tendon fires. I'll ask someone who's actually done this to illuminate...

The weird thing is that after tendon transfer you have to retrain your mind to work the thumb by thinking about extending your index finger, I believe (assuming it is the extensor tendon that was transferred).

[pbmax]

With Matthews, it sounds like they used a tendon that attaches near the thumb, and has another attachment up the arm. Disconnect up the arm, turn it around and anchor it on the broken thumb to generate strength (this seems extreme, weird and unlikely). More likely, they moved a tendon from the neighboring finger (which has two) and anchored that. The hole they drill is probably to allow the thing to get to the other side to anchor so it's stronger (they do this in ACL surgery) - or to get the proper movement of the thumb when the muscle attached to the tendon fires. I'll ask someone who's actually done this to illuminate...

The weird thing is that after tendon transfer you have to retrain your mind to work the thumb by thinking about extending your index finger, I believe (assuming it is the extensor tendon that was transferred).

OK, I can see how this aids strength. But how was his strength going to be impaired in the first place?

Did the second injury mean his thumb would not return to 100% or did it do additional damage that needed to be addressed?

[mraynrand]

OK, I can see how this aids strength. But how was his strength going to be impaired in the first place?

Did the second injury mean his thumb would not return to 100% or did it do additional damage that needed to be addressed?

I'm guessing he ruptured his extensor tendon with the second injury

[pbmax]

I'm guessing he ruptured his extensor tendon with the second injury

Shoulda kept the club.

[woodbuck27]

Rand, can you translate this to English?

His wrist and forearm now doubles as a guitar.

[mraynrand]

His wrist and forearm now doubles as a guitar.

[bobblehead]

Rand, can you translate this to English?

Let me try:

It was really fucked up and the doctor got creative and we are claiming its full go, but no one has a clue what a procedure like this will end up doing.

[pbmax]

Let me try:

It was really fucked up and the doctor got creative and we are claiming its full go, but no one has a clue what a procedure like this will end up doing.

That's my question: is this a typical response to a re-break or are they trying to fix Bill Walton's feet?