Nerve Transfer Surgery: Reanimating the hand after Spinal Cord Injury

Traditionally, surgeons have used tendon transfer to restore hand and arm function in people with spinal cord injuries in the neck, also known as the cervical region. This procedure involves taking a tendon that’s attached to a healthy muscle, but not crucial to its function, and reattaching it to a paralyzed muscle. This allows the healthy muscle to take over the job of the one that was paralyzed. Nerve transfer surgery works in a similar way. The surgeon takes a nerve from above the level of injury that is not crucial to an area’s function, or that is redundant to another nerve, and attaches it to a significant nerve below the level of injury.

Nerve transfer isn’t a new technique. Surgeons have used it to treat peripheral nerve and brachial plexus injuries for many years. However, they’re gaining more knowledge about outcomes in individuals with spinal cord injuries. But, unlike tendon transfer surgery, nerve transfer allows for the reactivation of the muscles that are actually meant to perform those lost functions.

You can read more about this innovative surgery that can restore a great deal of independence to those with Cervical injuries HERE.