Reconstructive Surgery

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Nerve Repairs

Nerve damage to hands and fingers can be debilitating. Many jobs, sports and other activities common to our culture put us at risk for nerve damage. Common nerve injuries include traumatic injuries and compression injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome and cubital tunnel syndrome. Nerve repairs of the hands and fingers are specialized surgical procedures performed by the experienced hand specialists at the Hayes Hand Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Causes of Hand/Finger Nerve Damage

Any traumatic injury to hands or fingers that causes pressure, excessive stretching, or cuts a nerve can result in damage. If sufficient pressure is applied to nerve fibers, they may tear. The same can happen when nerves are stretched. These broken fibers cannot transmit electrical signals between the brain and the muscles. The result can include loss of muscle control, strength, and/or sensation. Muscles can atrophy, weakening to the point of being non-functional if treatment isn’t started or is not effective. Nerve damage to the hands or fingers may result in pain, weakness, paralysis, and numbness.

When the insulating nerve sheath is cut, nerve fibers may be severed as well. The detached portion of the nerve will die, but the live portion, attached to the brain will attempt to grow and reattach to the muscle. Sometimes, instead of reattaching, the nerve can form a neuroma, a painful scar tissue.

Compression injuries, also called repetitive motion nerve damage, are worsened when that activity or motion is continued. These injuries include carpal tunnel syndrome and cubital tunnel syndrome.

Treatment for Hand/Finger Nerve Damage

Surgical treatment to repair a severed nerve involves sewing the ends of the severed sheath together. Nerve endings can then begin to grow together within the sheath. Nerves grow at a rate of one inch per month. Depending upon how far the severed end of the nerve is from the fingertip, it can take up to one year for the nerve to grow and fully reattach.

Physical therapy should accompany post surgical healing. Physical therapy will help keep joints limber, and strengthen muscles. It can improve sensation, and coordination and control of the hands and fingers.

Factors affecting the success of surgery and therapy include age, type, location and severity of the injury

If you are suffering from any type of nerve injury to your hands or fingers, please contact Chattanooga, Tennessee’s hand specialist at the Hayes Hand Center for a full evaluation and reconstructive hand surgery treatment plan.