Tendon repair implant and method of arthroscopic implantation

A method of repairing a tendon, the method comprising:

• arthroscopically delivering a sheet-like implant to a surface of the tendon with the sheet-like implant in a first compact configuration, the sheet-like implant having a longitudinal dimension, a lateral dimension, and a thickness dimension, the sheet-like implant having an initial tensile modulus in the longitudinal dimension of 1 MPa to 50 MPa in a range of 1% to 3% strain in the longitudinal dimension, where 0% strain is defined with a 1 N preload applied to the sheet-like implant, the sheet-like implant formed of reconstituted collagen material having a porosity of 30% to 90% for tissue in-growth, wherein the reconstituted collagen material has a longitudinal alignment of collagen fibers which form longitudinal pathways extending along the longitudinal dimension of the sheet-like implant;
• deploying the sheet-like implant by transforming the sheet-like implant to a second configuration wherein a surface of the sheet-like implant faces the surface of the tendon;
• contacting and conforming the surface of the sheet-like implant to the surface of the tendon with the longitudinal dimension aligned with a load bearing direction of the tendon;
• and
• affixing the sheet-like implant to the surface of the tendon without using sutures;
• wherein upon initially affixing the sheet-like implant to the surface of the tendon, an anatomical load on the tendon and sheet-like implant combination is distributed with 1% to 50% of the anatomical load carried by the sheet-like implant.