 Devised by an American hand therapist, Julie Ann Howell working with the hand surgeon Wendell Merritt, a Relative Motion Splint is a small ingenious device which maintains the metacarpal phalangeal joint of the injured finger in either flexion or extension relative to the other digits. Due to the delicate muscular balance of the intrinsic muscles around this joint, when the MP joint is held flexed in relation to the other fingers it can facilitate active PIP extension in cases of central slip injury, PIP extensor lag or small flexion contractures. Alternatively, when the MP is held in extension relative to the other fingers , the splint will allow PIP flexion whilst protecting healing extensor tendon structures post repair.
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