Fig. 1.

A: Schematic diagram of the surgical procedure in this experiment. The tendon of the extensor digitorum muscle of the second toe (broken lines) was translocated (black solid lines) into the extensor retinaculum (arrowhead). B: An inclusive view of the surgical field after completion of the transfer. A laser diffraction device was applied intraoperatively to the most distal fiber bundle (circle) of the extensor digitorum to measure sarcomere length. Suture markers (arrows) were placed at the proximal end of the muscle and at the myotendinous junction to track the changes in the lengths of both the muscle and the tendon. C: Close-up view of the suture site shown by the broken line in B. The tendon was sutured to itself with at least seven knots after it was looped back around the extensor retinaculum (arrowhead). The scale bars represent 2 cm in B and C.