handle portions 17 and 19 from separating until such time as a user applies a twisting movement substantially parallel to the axis of the pivot bearing 15 to lift the ratchet arm 27 away from the ratchet catch 29 thus disengaging the ratchet teeth 39 the plier arms 11 13 have sufficient overlap with respect to each other at the pivot bearing 15 to minimize twisting of the finger portions 21 23 when the ratchet mechanism 25 is being engaged or disengaged the tendon support clamp is constructed from a material having sufficient flexibility to prevent deformation to the plier arms 11 13 during disengagement of the ratchet mechanism 25 referring now also to fig3 a second embodiment of the tendon support clamp 10 having removeable plates 21 23 is shown the lateral plate 23 and the support plate 21 may be formed integrally with its respective plier arm 13 11 as shown in fig1 and 2 or may be removeable mounted to allow one set of plier arms 51 53 to accommodate a set of several different sized plates 21 23 each plier arm 51 53 comprises a handle portion 17 19 respectively at its proximal end and is joined to the other plier arm approximately at its midpoint by pivot bearing 15 the distal end of each plier arm 51 53 includes an integrally formed mounting plate 55 which cooperates with a mounting bracket 57 in a well known manner attached to the outwardly facing faces 59 61 of the plates 23 21 the lateral and support plates may be fabricated.