The Philadelphia Hand Center

I visited the Hand Center in Paoli after a badly ruptured pinky tendon on my right hand after a fall on a hike that left me with an ugly, bent «Boutonnière Deformity.» First visit involved serial waits answering the same questions for the receptionist, then a tech, then a Fellow, and then, finally, the MD. For 10 minutes of his time I waited more than an hour, only to learn that the damage was likely permanent and irreparable.
However, that didn’t stop him from recommending serial casts (changed weekly for four weeks during PT in his adjoining practice) to keep the finger straight, which was odd considering… On the second visit four weeks later I was surprised to learn that the next stage was to get the finger to flex more easily, NOT to keep it straight, which was the previous strategy. The tech took a second set of x-​rays which he never looked at. I waited a full 30 minutes in an empty room for the doctor, who entered asking how I was. When I responded that I was fine except for the wait of 30 minutes, he didn’t apologize and only said that had I gone to his partner I would wait for five hours! This arrogance is reflected in their scheduling practice, which I learned at the desk is to book three patients for the same half hour so that, by definition, at least two of the three have to wait to be seen.
I would not recommend the Paoli office of the Hand Center for the crappy attitude of the professional staff, the routine x-​rays, which on my second visit, were not necessary (was my insurance billed for them ?), the long waits, the questionable therapy (again, speaking for my case only) which did nothing but waste my time and money for an injury that has no hope of resolution.

I visited the hand Center for a second opinion about my injured hand on which I severed two nerves and two tendons on my ring finger. I met with Dr. Rekant who made me feel as if everything would be back to normal in about three months. He was very nice and made me feel very comfortable so I canceled my originally scheduled surgery.
After the surgery during follow-​up visits Dr. Rekants bedside manner disappeared and he didn’t even physically examined my finger. When I asked him for a prognosis he suggested it was like asking him to predict the score of tonight’s baseball game. After this very strange visit I requested to change doctors.
The next doctor was very up front with me from the beginning. He explained to me that I should not expect my finger to ever work the way did prior to my injury. I found this to be extremely disappointing considering it was now 15 weeks after my surgery. I’d much rather a doctor be upfront with me. I don’t have confidence that the surgery was done correctly.
Add to all of this that their therapy practices are not consistent from location to location. My tendons are now bound up by scar tissue and perhaps this could have been prevented had proper therapy been done from the outset.
I recently made an appointment for the Rothman Institute and moved my therapy to Novacare. I haven’t met the new doctor yet but have high hopes. The NovaCare therapist has already done things on my hand that were never even tried during my time at the hand Center.

Had a surgery 5 years ago to repair a ruptured distal biceps tendon (at the elbow). The surgery was performed by Dr. Ketolick.
I had nothing but pain in the repaired arm since surgery. At the time I just figured this was a price to pay because of major surgery. So, moving ahead to present day — bout 6 weeks ago. 6 weeks ago I re ruptured it. This time I went to the Rothman institute. So as it turns out, it only re ruptured because it wasn’t done right the first time. The tendon healed back to the muscle tissue around the bone, never reattaching back to the bone — this explains all the pain I’ve had the last 5 years.
So the first time had it done I was in a sling/​make shift cast for 3 months and ten STILL couldn’t move my arm straight. This time after the Rothman surgeon did it, my arm was completely stretched out after 8 days post op, with no pain. I’m not sure why this didn’t raise any red flags with the hand center, but it certainly should have.
Do yourself a favor, go to the Rothman institute and save yourself a re-​surgery.