Patent ID: 8882834

Claim:
A method of repairing soft tissue of a joint of a human extremity, the joint including a metapodial bone and a proximal phalanx, the extremity having volar and dorsal aspects, the method comprising: maintaining the metapodial bone intact; forming a bone tunnel through the proximal phalanx between volar and dorsal aspects of the proximal phalanx; passing a repair suture through the soft tissue to be repaired; passing the repair suture through the bone tunnel; and securing the suture, wherein the soft tissue to be repaired comprises a volar ligament and wherein forming a bone tunnel comprises forming a bone tunnel between volar and dorsal aspects of the proximal phalanx, wherein the metapodial bone is a metatarsal bone and the volar ligament is the plantar plate of a human foot.