I lay on my back on Dr. Badois' examination table. When he worked on my left hand, he seated himself on the left of the table. He positioned my hand on a padded, inverted, kidney pan on his knee, at a convenient height for his purposes. I was uncomfortable positioning my hand thus. He teased me that I was too tense and needed to learn yoga in order to relax my wrist. The only pain I felt was the small sting when the needle was first inserted into my palm. There was a slight burning sensation as the anesthetic was injected. Once my hand was numb, I did not feel any pain as Dr. Badois sawed through the bands. When he was through (about 10 or 15 minutes later), He took hold of my finger and pulled it straight. I could hear a slight ripping sound as this happened. Then I COULD EXTEND MY FINGERS. Bandaging took another couple of minutes, and we were on our way. The instructions were to keep the bandage in place for 72 hours and to keep it dry. I covered my hand with a rubber glove when it was time to shower.
The only difference that I noticed when my right hand was treated was that Dr. Badois rested the back of my hand directly on his knee rather than on an uncomfortable kidney pan.