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Updated: Aug 5, 2025

Structured Motor Rehabilitation After Selective Nerve Transfers
Published on: August 15, 2019
[Treatment of the contracted first Commissure of the Hand: Literature Overview and own Experiences]
Elmar Fritsche1, Dorrit Winterholer1, Urs Hug1
1Klinik für Hand- und Plastische Chirurgie, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Luzern, Switzerland.
Abstract:
The freely movable thumb is of central importance for the function of the human hand. This mobility is necessarily linked to an undisturbed function of the commissure between the thumb and the index finger or, if the index finger is missing, the middle finger. A significant contracture of the first commissure, caused by whatever genesis, inevitably results in a significant loss of function up to almost complete inability to use. The surgical treatment of the first commissure often only affects the contracted skin. In some cases, however, it requires a multi-stage approach to fascia, muscles and joints, at the end of which there is the soft tissue expansion of the interspatium between the thumb and index finger. We mention old insights on the subject, give an overview of the literature, present our own experiences based on 5 cases and - according to the severity of the contracture - make a therapy recommendation.

