Thanks to a hand operation, Markus Lenze is able to pursue his hobby again. And to his great surprise, much faster than he originally thought.
As a member of Clowns and Company e.V., Markus Lenze is a familiar face in the Märkischer Kreis. Juggling and fire shows in the club are part of his profession. About 28 years ago, the full-time banker started juggling, Clowns and Company e.V. was added about three years ago. Through this he also became part of the fire spectacle of the association.
However, pain in his right wrist limited his hobby in recent months. Especially during twisting movements and loads, this pain occurred again and again since summer 2020. So at the beginning of the year, Markus Lenze was referred to Dr. Petra Scheffer, chief physician for plastic, reconstructive and aesthetic surgery/hand surgery at the Hellersen Sports Clinic, with the suspicion of an injury to the discus of the wrist. When she then performed an arthroscopy - a joint endoscopy - to examine it, Dr. Petra Scheffer found that the original suspicion was not confirmed by the MRI, but instead there was a torn ligament between two carpal bones (lunate = moon bone and triquetrum = triangular bone).
"Wrist ligament ruptures are not always detectable on MRI because of false negatives. That was the case here as well. It was only through arthroscopy that we were able to detect the injury," explains the chief physician. It is not uncommon for a torn ligament at this site to be discovered years later. In the long term, the result is arthrosis. If the ligament is not sutured or reconstructed, the structure breaks down - like cogwheels that no longer mesh properly. The cartilage then continues to wear away until it is destroyed and finally bone rubs against bone, resulting in extensive arthrosis.
In Markus Lenze's case, the tear has fortunately not yet led to further damage to the cartilage surfaces. However, the torn ligament had already been reamed between the two bones, so that it could no longer be sutured directly. It was replaced by a wrist tendon graft (the palmaris longus muscle) and thus reconstructed.
"This tendon no longer has much function because it is a remnant of human development. In 15 to 20 percent of the population, this tendon is very thin or completely absent. That's why hand surgery likes to use it as a graft, as in this case," Dr. Scheffer explains.
The surgery went well and healing set in quickly, he said. "After the surgery in February, I started to put light weight on my wrist again in May and slowly approached it with the support of physiotherapy at the Hellersen Sports Clinic. The result was a quick therapy success. The mobility came back even faster than I would have expected. I am now at 95 to 98 percent mobility," says Markus Lenze. He had hoped to be part of the fire show again at the Phänomenta's 25th anniversary in early October. His wrist will not stand in his way. He has already given his first performances again - for example, at the "Wire on Fire" event at the Wire Museum in Altena. "I really missed my hobby and am glad that I was able to resume it so quickly," says Markus Lenze.
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