Dear Sir, A 47-year-old, right-handed man presented with progressively reduced flexion strength of the right little finger that had begun 1 month previously. The patient was a labourer whose job for more than 20 years required regular lifting of heavy items with fire tongs. He continued to work until he was unable to flex the finger, although he felt no pain. He had no history of gout, rheumatic disease, diabetes or hand injury. No paraesthesia or numbness was noted in the finger. Physical examination of the right hand revealed loss of active flexion function of the little finger, which remained in an extended position. There was a full passive range of motion in the finger. A radiograph was normal. The little finger was explored under general anaesthesia. A rupture in zone III was found in both the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) and flexor digi-torum profundus (FDP) tendons (Fig 1). The FDS tendon of the ring finger was transferred to the FDP of the little finger. Postoperatively, the hand was placed in a splint with the wrist in 20deg and the metacarpophalangeal joint in 45deg of flexion, with a rubber band connecting the little finger to the forearm. The splint was left in place for 6 weeks. Six months later, the patient returned to work with active ranges of motion of 0deg to 75deg, 0deg to 70deg, and 0deg to 40deg for the metacarpophalangeal, proximal interphalangeal and distal interphalangeal joints, respectively.
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